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THE  libhary 

,;iftVEr.SITY  OF  CALrrORMA 
LOS  Ai^GELfcib 


T^>. 


H  I  S  T  0  RY 

OF    THE 

MASSACHUSETTS 

GENERAL    HOSPITAL. 

[To  August  5,  1851.] 

By    N.    I.    BOWDITCH. 


'  Ortnft  .  facaru  .  pilgrim  .  Ijrinfe  .  anb  .  prag  . 
JJ'or  .  ii)c .  kinO  .  soul  .  of  .  S-gbil  .  (Greg  . 
SUfio  .  built .  ibis  .  cross  .  ana  .  irfll .  " 

SCOTT'S      MAinilON. 


[Privately  Printed  in  1851.] 


Second  Edition,  avith  a  Continuation  to  1872. 


Prepared  bi/    Request,  in    a    Vote    of  the    Trustees,  chi'efli/    from    the    Records 
imd  Atiniiol.   Reports. 


BOSTON: 

PRINTED    BY    THE    TRUSTEES    FROM    THE    BOWDITCH    FUND. 

1872. 


THE  LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1872,  liy 

THE  MASSACHUSETTS   GENERAL   HOSPITAL, 

In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


cambkiduk: 
press  oi'  john  wilson  anu  son. 


BbmB 

PKEFATORY    NOTE    TO    THIS    EDITION, 

BY    THE    EDITOR. 


The    following    is    an    extract    from    the    will    of   the    late 
Nathaniel  I.  Bowditch  :  — 

"In  1851  I  published  for  private  distribution,  at  the  cost  of 
eleven  hundred  dollars,  a  History  of  the  Massachusetts  General 
Hosi)ital.  I  now  give  to  that  Corporation  the  copyi'ight  of  said 
work  and  the  plates  prepared  for  it  in  the  frontispiece  and  the 
likeness  of  Dr.  James  Jackson.  Also,  the  sum  of  two  thousand 
dollars,  to  be  put  at  interest  till  another  edition  shall  be  deemed 
desirable  by  the  Trustees,  when  said  sum,  with  its  accumu- 
lations, or  such  part  thereof  as  may  be  needed,  shall  be  appro- 
priated to  that  object.  A  volume  of  the  |)roof-sheets  of  this 
work  is  in  my  possession,  containing  various  manuscript  addi- 
tions and  corrections  made  by  me,  which  I  should  wish  to  have 
incorporated  in  any  new  edition. 

"  It  would  gratify  me  to  have  my  friend  and  classmate, 
Edward  Wigglesworth,  superintend  the  printing  of  any  such 
new  edition." 

Mr.  Bowditch's  History  was  highly  valued  by  the  friends 
and  institutions  on  whom  he  bestowed  copies,  and  it  had  an 
especial  interest  for  professional  men  and  for  those  engaged 
in  the  care  and  administration  of  Hospitals.  It  had  become 
difficult  for  many  who  much  desired  it  to  obtain  possession  of 
the  work.  The  Trustees  were  therefore  concerned  to  procure 
its  reproduction.  Mr.  Edward  Wigglesworth  declined 
to  undertake  its  editorship. 


676908 


IV  PREFATORY    NOTE. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Hospital,  on  Nov.  17, 
1871,  the  following  vote  was  passed  :  — 

"  Voted,  That  our  associate,  Dr.  George  E,  Ellis,  be  ap- 
pointed Editor  of  the  proposed  new  edition  of  Mr.  Bowditch's 
History  of  the  Hospital,  with  a  continuation  by  himself  to  this 
time ;  with  full  power  to  make  such  additions  as  he  deems 
advisable,  while  conforming  to  the  terms  of  Mr.  Bowditch's 
will,  and  to  contract  for  the  printing  of  the  same." 

In  executing  the  trust  thus  committed  to  him,  the  Editor 
has  had  in  his  hands  Mr.  Bowditch's  private  copy  of  his 
book,  with  all  the  changes  in  text  and  margin  which  he 
desired  to  be  introduced  in  a  new  edition.  These  have  been 
made  with  an  attempt  at  strict  carefulness  in  the  following 
pages.  In  all  other  respects  the  volume  is  an  exact  and 
literal  reproduction  of  Mr.  Bowditch's  work. 

Under  the  proper  date  in  the  Continuation  of  the  History, 
requested  by  his  associates  in  the  government  of  the  Hospital, 
the  Editor  has  sought  to  pay  an  appropriate  tribute  to  the 
Author,  his  own  much  esteemed  friend. 

The  aim  has  been  to  construct  that  Continuation  after 
the  plan  of  the  original  work.  There  are  some  entries  on 
the  Hospital  records,  which,  being  of  a  strictly  private  or 
personal  nature,  are  not  set  forth  in  print.  When  next  after 
a  like  interval  of  yeai'S  a  third  edition  of  this  History  may 
be  produced,  it  may  be  considered  desirable  to  arrange  its 
contents  in  two  volumes.  The  present  Editor  thought  it 
preferable  to  include  the  contents  thus  far  within  a  single 
pair  of  covers,  though  the  book  may  be  a  bulky  one. 

The  Treasurer  in  his  last  report  credits  the  Bowdltch  His- 
tory Fund,  with  its  accretions,  at  $5,561.91. 

G.  E.  E. 

Boston,  July,  1872. 


PREFACE, 

[By  Mr.  Bowditch.] 


The  MasSxVchusetts  General  Hospital  —  with  its  two  de- 
partments, the  Hospital  for  the  sick  in  Allen  Street  and  the 
Asylum  for  the  Insane  in  Somerville —  is  one  of  the  largest  and 
most  important  of  the  charitable  institutions  of  this  Common- 
wealth. 'Superintended  by  officers  faithful  to  their  trust,  it  has 
ever,  in  a  high  degree,  enjoyed  the  confidence  of  the  community, 
and  been  the  object  of  public  and  private  munificence.  A  brief 
history  of  this  Institution,  —  of  its  small  beginnings,  its  early 
difficulties,  and  its  ultimate  success,  —  an  account  of  what  has 
been  done  for  it,  and  of  what  it  has  itself  done  in  return,  — 
will  perhaps,  to  its  friends  and  benefactors  at  least,  prove  not 
wholly  devoid  of  interest.  I  have  been  personally  connected 
with  it,  in  the  offices  of  Secretary  and  Trustee,  for  twenty-five 
years;  and  my  father-in-law,  Ebenezer  Francis,  Esq.,  was 
one  of  its  earliest  and  most  active  Managers.  Our  joint  recol- 
lection extends  back  through  the  whole  period  of  its  existence. 
The  materials  for  such  a  history  were  thus,  to  a  considerable 
extent,  either  already  possessed  by  me  or  placed  easily  within 
my  reach.  Their  selection  and  arrangement  have  been  "  a  labor 
of  love." 

The  frontispiece*  is  an  engraving  on  steel,  representing  a 
section  of  the  panorama  of  Boston  and  its  vicinity,  taken  by 
means  of  a  daguerreotype  from  the  top  of  the  State  House.  In 
the  foreground  appears  the  Hospital ;  at  the  left  corner  is  part 

*  [This  frontispiece  is  retained,  tliough  the  erection  of  new  buildings,  the 
filling  up  of  flats,  the  extension  of  the  Hospital  grounds,  and  many  changes 
in  the  landscape,  give  the  view  an  historical  interest,  rather  than  present  it  as 
a  representation  of  what  now  is.] 


VI  PREFACE. 

of  the  Medical  College,  the  scene  of  a  late  fearful  tragedy ; 
and,  in  the  background  beyond  the  river,  the  hill  is  crowned 
by  the  Asylum,  a  peaceful  retreat,  standing  forth  from  amid  the 
foliage  and  shrubbery  by  which  it  is  sheltered  and  secluded. 
I  have  been  permitted  by  the  Trustees  to  use  a  separate  engrav- 
ing of  the  Asylum,  which  has  for  several  years  belonged  to 
the  Corporation,  The  likeness  of  Dr.  James  Jackson  was 
also  executed  for  this  publication  from  a  daguerreotype,  of  which 
it  is  a  very  accurate  copy,  though  the  happiest  cxpi'ession  has 
not  been  secured.  The  engraving  of  Dr.  Wakrei!^  is  from  an 
existing  plate,  which  he  kindly  placed  at  my  disposal.  After  the 
volume  was  in  the  press,  I  learned,  for  the  first  time,  that  my 
friend  and  co-trustee,  Geokge  M.  Dexter,  Esq.,  had  already 
prepared,  at  great  labor  and  expense,  large  and  elegant  engrav- 
ings of  the  interior  and  exterior  of  the  Hospital,  which,  at  a 
future  day,  he  intended  to  publish,  with  some  description  of  the 
estal)lishment,  historical  as  well  as  architectural.  Of  all  these 
engravings,  he,  with  great  liberality,  offered  me  the  free  iise. 
This  courtesy,  however,  I  felt  that  I  ought  not  to  accept.  His 
intended  publication  he  will,  as  is  hoped,  yet  complete.  Its 
design  is  truly  magnificent,  and  will  not  be  superseded  by  the 
present  compilation.  If,  indeed,  that  shall  be  regarded  as  letter- 
press worthy  of  accompanying  his  architectural  illustrations,  I 
niay  well  be  satisfied. 

Tlie  chapter  on  the  Ether-discovery  is  very  much  longer  than 
I  desired  or  expected.  It  contains  nothing  new,  except  pei'haps 
the  award  of  the  French  academy,  and  also  a  note  showing  the 
extent  to  which  ether  is  used  in  the  Hospital.  Readers  of 
tlie  present  generation  will  probably  omit  it  entirely  ;  but  the 
extracts  from  various  pamphlets  which  it  contains,  familiar  as 
tliesc  now  are,  may  hereafter  be  of  some  interest  and  value,  when 
time  shall  have  rendered  the  originals  difticult  of  access.  The 
short  letter  of  Dr.  Henry  J.  Bigelow,  in  page  844,  presents,  as 
I  conceive,  in  almost  tlie  condensed  form  of  an  algebraic  equa- 
tion, a  clear,  striking,  and  conclusive  view  of  the  merits  of  the 
whole  controversy.     The  Academy,  as  will  be  seen,  accords  to 


PREFACE.  Vll 

Dr.  Morto:n^  the  idea,  thought,  or  purpose  (pensee)  of  making 
tliis  discovery,  and  to  Dr.  C.  T.  Jackson  the  fact  (le  fait  ob- 
serve) of  the  safety  of  the  agent  i;sed  ;  and  attributes  the  final 
result  equally  to  them  both,  regarding  the  mental  pre-occu- 
pation  or  engrossment  (preoccttpation)  of  the  one,  and  the 
observations  of  the  other,  alike  indispensable.  This  award  is 
obviously  an  entire  triumph  of  Dr.  Morton  over  the  exclusive 
claims  of  his  opponent,  and  must  be  to  him  the  more  gratifying, 
inasmuch  as  it  has  been  gained  from  a  tribunal,  most  if  not  all 
of  whose  members,  though  strangers  to  himself,  are  the  scientific 
correspondents  or  j^ersonal  friends  of  Dr.  Jackson. 

It  is  due  to  the  Institution  to  say,  that  this  is  in  no  sense 
an  official  publication,  but  merely  a  private  and  humble  con- 
tribution in  its  behalf,  —  a  slight  and  inadequate  expression  of 
the  interest  felt  in  its  welfare  by  one  who  has  ever  regarded  as 
among  his  happiest  hours  those  which  he  has  been  privileged  to 
pass  in  its  service. 

Boston,  October,  1851. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    I. 

Page 
Urgent  Need  of  Hospital.     Bequest  of  William  Phillips,  1804.     Cir- 
cular Letter,  1810.     Charter,  1811.     Subsequent  Acts  to  1851. 
Rights  under  Life-insurance  Charters.     Grant  of  Province  House. 
Lease  of  Same  for  One  Hundred  Years,  &c 1 


CHAPTER    n. 

1813-1817. 

Organization.  Trustees  elected,  1813.  Liberal  Subsci-iptions.  Pur- 
chases of  Two  Estates.  Deed  of  Asylum  Estate,  on  Condition. 
Defect  of  Title  in  Hospital  Estate,  but  Claim  favorably  compro- 
mised. Its  greatly  increased  Value.  Choice  of  Dr.  James  Jack- 
son and  Dr.  John  C.  Warren  as  Physician  and  Surgeon  of 
Hospital.  Lieutenant-Governor  William  Phillips  increases  his 
Father's  Gift  of  Five  Thousand  to  Twenty  Thousand  Dollars. 
Common  Seal 15 


CHAPTER    III. 

1818-1822. 

Thomas  H.  Perkins,  Chairman.  Dr.  Rufus  Wyman  chosen  Phy- 
sician of  Asylum.  Corner-stone  of  Hospital  laid,  July  4,  1818. 
Addresses  on  the  Occasion.  Tax  on  Licenses  asked  for.  Colonel 
May,  Chairman.  Address  by  Richard  Sullivan,  1819.  Capuchin 
Chapel.  Death  of  James  Prince,  Treasurer.  Election  and 
Death  of  William  Cochran.  Election  of  N.  P.  Russell.  Death 
of    James    Perkins,    Vice-President.     Tolls    on   Canal   Bridge. 

h 


X  CONTENTS. 

Page 
Nathaniel  Fletcher,  Superintendent  of  Hospital.     First  Patient, 
Sept.  8,  1821.     Bequests  of  Thomas  Oliver,  Samuel  Eliot,  Beza 
Tucker,    &c.      Donations   of   Horace   Gray,   &c.      Address   to 
Public,  1822.     State  of  Finances,  &c 36 


CHAPTER    IV. 

January,  1823,  to  June,  1827. 

Mummy  from  Thebes.  Fifty  Thousand  Dollars  invested  in  Massa- 
chusetts Hospital  Life  Insurance  Company.  West  Wing  of 
Hospital  finished.  Debt  created.  Bequest  of  John  M'Lean, 
over  One  Hundred  Thousand  Dollars.  Legacies  of  Abraham 
Touro,  Eleanor  Davis,  &c.  Death  of  Mr.  Fletcher.  Nathan 
Gurney  elected  Superintendent.  Gift  of  a  Sow.  Lafayette. 
Annual  Free  Beds.  Portraits  of  Benefactors.  Colonel  May 
resigns.  Joseph  Head,  Chairman.  Erysipelas  at  Hospital. 
Patients  removed.  Measures  in  Honor  of  John  M'Lean.  Value 
of  liis  Bequest  as  compared  with  Life  Insurance  Charters  .     .     .     Gl 

CHAPTER    V. 

June,  1827,  through  1832.        "" 

Bequest  of  William  Phillips.  Varioloid  at  Hospital.  Domestic 
Coffee.  Donation  Book.  New  Building  at  Asylum.  Fire  at 
Hospital.  Auditor  of  Accounts.  Silver  Spoons.  Ebenezer 
Francis,  Chairman.  Mr.  Joy's  Brick-kiln.  Death  of  Mrs.  Gur- 
ney. Wedding  at  Hospital.  Death  of  General  Cobb.  Dr. 
George  Ilayward  chosen  Junior  Surgeon.  Colored  Patient. 
Plank  Sidewalk.  Bequest  of  Jeremiah  Belknap.  Donation  of 
Joseph  Lee.  Lying-in  Hospital.  Edward  Tuckerman,  (Chair- 
man. Donations  of  John  P.  Cushing  and  John  C.  (iray.  Be- 
(|uest  of  Isaiah  Tliomas.  Cholera  Patients.  Dr.  Wyman's 
Illness  and  Two  Resignations.  Dr.  Walker's  Services.  ]\Iunifi- 
cent  Bequest  of  ISliss  Mary  Belknap,  One  Hundred  Tliousand 
Dollars.  Services  of  Joseph  Head.  Portrait  of  ]\Ir.  Belknap: 
how  ])ainted.  Becpiest  of  Miss  IMargaret  Tucker.  A  Painted 
Letter.  Belknap  Ward.  Prosperous  Condition  of  the  Insti- 
tution       80 


CONTENTS.  XI 

CHAPTER    VI. 

1833-1837. 

Paoe 
Death  of  Gardiner  Greene,  President.  Resignation  of  Mr.  Gurney. 
Choice  of  Gamaliel  Bradford.  Final  Resignation  of  Dr.  Wyman, 
and  Choice  of  Dr.  Thomas  G.  Lee.  Columbus  Tyler  elected 
Steward  of  Asylum.  Services  of  Mrs.  Tyler.  Bequest  of 
Jonathan  Moseley.  Portrait  of  Thomas  Oliver.  Resignation 
of  Joseph  Head,  President.  George  Bond,  Chairman.  Diet  at 
Hospital.  Free  Beds  for  Life.  Bequest  of  Miss  Susan 
Richardson.  Piano-forte  and  Billiard  Table  at  Asylum.  Trus- 
tees' Meeting  :  Nobody  Present.  Death  of  Dr.  Lee,  and  Votes 
of  Trustees.  Dr.  Luther  V.  Bell  elected  his  Successor.  Col- 
ored Patient.  Interesting  Report  of  S.  A.  Eliot  on  occasion  of 
Non-observance  of  Rules  and  Regulations.  Resignation  of  Dr. 
James  Jackson:  his  Character  and  Services.  Resignation  of 
Mr.  Russell,  the  Treasurer,  and  Choice  of  Henry  Andrews. 
Summary.  Great  Changes  of  the  Officers.  Donations  only  a 
Thousand  Dollars  for  the  Five  Years 113 

CHAPTER    Vir. 

1838-1842 

Death  of  Dr.  Bradford.  Charles  Sumner  elected  Superintendent. 
His  Resignation.  John  M.  Goodwin  chosen  his  Successor. 
Index  to  Medical  and  Surgical  Records.  Railroads  at  the 
Asylum.  Pitiful  Land  Damages.  A  Water  Bed.  Miss  Brim- 
mer's Bequest.  John  M'Lean's  Portrait.  Warren  Fund. 
Small  Pox  at  Hospital.  Death  of  George  Bond,  Chairman  of 
Trustees:  his  Character  and  Services.  Robert  Hooper,  jun.. 
Chairman.     Bust  of  Dr.  James  Jackson 146 

CHAPTER    VIIL 

1843-1847. 

Donation  Book  completed  by  Mr.  Rogers.  Varioloid  again  in 
Hospital.     Mr.  Appleton's  Donation,  Ten  Thousand  Dollars. 


Xll  COiSTENTS. 


Page 


Israel  Munson's  Bequest,  Twenty  Thousand  Dollars.  Sears 
Free  Beds.  Lands  in  Somerville  taxed.  Two  Wings  added  to 
Hospital :  Subscription  of  Sixty-two  Thousand  Five  Hundred 
and  Fifty  Dollars.  Services  of  Mr.  Rogers.  Miss  Taylor's  Ill- 
ness. Dr.  Bell's  Visit  to  Europe  at  Request  of  Butler  Hospital, 
of  Rhode  Island.  Bequest  of  John  Parker,  Ten  Thousand 
Dollars.  Statue  of  Apollo.  Lying-in  Department  discussed. 
Daniel  Waldo's  Bequest,  Forty  Thousand  Dollars.  Death  of 
Mr.  Goodwin.  Anecdote  of  him.  Richard  Girdler  elected. 
Tomb  of  Thomas  Oliver.  New  Kitchen  at  Hospital.  Enlarged 
Medical  and  Surgical  Staff.  INIedical  College.  John  Redman's 
Bequest,  One  Hundred  Thousand  Dollars.  William  Oliver's, 
Fifty  Thousand  Dollars.  Out-door  Patients.  Hospital  Fence. 
Monument  to  Jeremiah  and  jMary  Belknap.  Addition  to 
Dwelling-house  at  Asylum.  Bequest  of  Sarah  Clough,  a  Do- 
mestic. Ether  Discovery.  Sickness  at  Asylum.  Death  of 
Sevei-al  Patients,  and  of  Two  Children  of  Dr.  Bell      ....     169 


CHAPTER    IX. 

1847-1849. 

The  Ether  Discovery,  and  Controversy  between  Drs.  Morton  and 
Jackson.  List  of  more  than  two  dozen  Pamphlets.  Extracts 
from  a  few  of  them.  Hospital  Report.  "Vindication  of  Same. 
Dr.  Smilie'.<  Address.  Congress  Report.  The  Casket  and 
Ribbon.  Award  of  the  French  Academy.  Extent  to  which 
Ether  is  used  at  the  Hospital 21t 


CHAPTER    X. 

1848-1851. 

Wedding  at  Hospital.  Gift  of  Trustees.  Cost  of  the  Two  New 
Wings,  &c.  Death  of  Dr.  Enoch  Hale.  All  further  Ether 
Controversy  declined.  Gas.  Devise  of  John  D.  Williams  of 
Store  worth  Seventeen  Thousand  Dollars.  Free  Beds  placed  at 
Disposal  of  his  E.xecutors.  Bequest  of  B.  R.  Nichols,  Si.x 
Thousand  Dollars.     Bequests  of  John  Bromfield,  in  all  Forty 


CONTENTS.  XIU 

Page 
Thousand  Dollars.  Mr.  Hooper  resigns  as  Chairman,  and  is 
elected  Vice-President.  Bequest  of  Henry  Todd,  Five  Thou- 
sand Dollars.  Death  of  Dr.  John  D.  Fisher.  Addition  to 
Lodge  at  the  Asylum.  Post-mortem  Examinations.  Death  of 
Signor  Sarti.  New  Donation  of  William  Appleton,  Twenty 
Thousand  Dollars.  Night  Watch  at  Asylum.  Resignation  of 
Dr.  Hayward  :  his  long  and  valuable  Services.  Votes  of  Trus- 
tees. Varioloid  at  Hospital.  Votes  of  Trustees.  Legacy  of 
Dr.  Charles  W.  Wilder,  Twenty  Thousand  Dollars.  Lee 
Donations  of  1830.  Dix  Ward  at  Asylum  named  in  honor  of 
MissDix 349 

CHAPTER    Xr. 

Visits  of  Trustees  :  their  great  Regularity.  Incidents  and  Anec- 
dotes of  Life  in  the  Asylum  and  in  the  Hospital.  Death  of  a 
Little  Italian  Boy  and  of  a  Female  Attendant 383 

CHAPTER    XII. 

The  Members  of  the  Corporation.  List  of  Trustees.  Remarks 
and  Anecdotes,  List  of  Officers.  List  of  Subscriptions.  Sum- 
mary of  the  same  to  1843.  Enlargement  of  Hospital  in  1844. 
Free-bed  Subscription  List.  Legacies,  Donations,  and  Devises. 
Receipts  from  Life  Office,  &c.  Grand  Summary  of  all  these 
Donations.  Tables  of  Admissions  and  Discharges  at  the  Asy- 
lum and  at  the  Hospital.     Concluding  Remarks 410 


CONTINUATION. 

CHAPTER    XIIL 

From  August  5,  1851,  to  March  16,  18.50. 

Mr.  Bowditch's  History :  Its  Value.  Thanks  of  tiie  Committee  of 
Trustees.  Claim  of  the  Corporation  on  a  Life  Insurance  Com- 
pany.    Pipes  for  the  Cochituate  Water.     Visitors  to  the  Rail- 


XIV  CONTENTS. 

Page 
road  Jubilee.  Charges  for  Out-of-town  Patients.  Dr. 
Warren's  Gift  of  Surgical  Instruments.  Indexes  to  Hospital 
Records.  Contract  for  Water.  Office  of  Chemist  and  Micro- 
scopist.  Dr.  J.  Bacon,  jun.,  elected  thereto.  Case  of  Alleged 
Abuse  at  Asylum  Investigated.  Bequest  from  Mrs.  Salis- 
bury. Report  for  1851.  Improvements  at  the  Asylum. 
Organization  for  1852.  Tribute  to  Mr.  Rogers.  A  Question 
of  Prerogative.  Legacy  from  J.  Ingersoll.  Sad  Occurrence 
at  the  Hospital.  Resignation  of  Dr.  J.  C.  Warren.  Annual 
Meeting.  Organization  for  1853.  Report  for  1852.  Resig- 
nation of  Mr.  Goodhue.  New  Supervisors  at  the  Asylum. 
Another  Offering  from  Mr.  Bowditch.  Tribute  to  Hon.  S.  Apple- 
ton.  Hospital  Index.  Additional  Physician  at  Asylum.  Annual 
Meeting.  Organization  for  1854.  Report  for  1853.  Bequest 
of  Judah  Touro.  Death  of  Dr.  Sliattuck.  Building  of  a  Foul 
Ward.  Dr.  J.  Homans  elected  a  Consulting  Physician.  Dr. 
M.  Ranney,  Assistant-Physician  at  Asylum.  Pathological 
Museum.  Gift  from  S.  Appleton's  Estate.  Gift  of  J.  B.  Brad- 
lee.  Dr.  C.  Ellis,  Curator  of  the  Pathological  Cabinet.  Death 
of  Dr.  S.  Parkman.  Dr.  G.  H.  Gay  elected  a  Visiting  Sur- 
geon. Annual  Meeting,  1855.  Organization.  Report  for  1854. 
Tribute  to  J.  P.  Bigelow.  JVIicroscopist  at  the  Hospital. 
Resignation  of  Dr.  J.  Bigelow.  Additional  Rooms  at  Hospital. 
Bequest  of  Miss  E.  Pratt.  New  Fence  at  Hospital.  Annual 
Meeting.  Organization  for  1856.  Report  for  1855.  Resig- 
nation of  Dr.  Bell :  his  Farewell 459 

CHAPTER    XIV. 

March  16,  1856,  to  Febuuary  5,  1862. 

Routine  Business  at  the  Meetings  of  the  Trustees.  New  Fence  at 
the  Hospital.  Dr.  C.  Booth  elected  Superintendent  of  the  Asy- 
lum, and  Dr.  .1.  C.  Smith  an  Assistant  Physician.  Resignation  of 
Dr.  Perry.  Notice  of  the  death  of  Dr.  J.  C.Warren.  Proposal  for 
a  Sea- Wall  on  the  Hospital  Bounds.  Be(|uest  of  William  Read. 
Important  Votes  concerning  the  Asylum.  Annual  Meeting. 
Organization  for  1857.  Report  for  1856.  Illness  of  Dr.  Booth. 
Contribution  to  Dr.  Morton.  Dr.  L.  M.  Sargent,  jun.,  chosen 
Artist  of  the  Hospital.     Gift  from  Dr.  J.  M.  Warren.     Death  of 


CO^!TENTS.  XV 

Page 
Dr.  Booth.  Temporary  Service  of  Dr.  Bell.  Annual  Meeting;. 
Organization  for  1858.  Report  for  1857.  Bequests  of  M.  P. 
Sawyer  and  W.  Pickman.  Dr.  J.  E.  Tyler,  Superintendent  of 
the  Asylum.  Bequest  of  Dr.  J.  G.  Treadwell.  Office  of  Resi- 
dent Physician  at  the  Hospital.  Resignation  of  Superintendent 
Girdler,  and  of  the  Secretary.  Malignant  Fever  at  the  Hos- 
pital. Donation  from  Executors  of  Thomas  Dowse.  T.  B. 
Hall  chosen  Secretary.  Dr.  B.  S.  Shaw  chosen  Resident  Physi- 
cian, and  Dr.  S.  L.  Abbot,  Physician  to  Out-Patients,  at  the 
Hospital.  Application  of  a  Female  Student.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Gallison  chosen  Steward  and  Matron  of  the  Hospital.  Thanks 
to  Capt.  Girdler.  Tribute  to  Dr.  Storer.  Dr.  F.  Minot  chosen 
a  Visiting  Physician.  Bequest  of  Mrs.  A.  Austin.  Establish- 
ment of  the  Treadwell  Library.  Estate  of  M.  P.  Sawyer.  Fill- 
ing of  Flats.  Annual  Meeting.  Organization  for  1859.  Report 
for  1858.  Resignation  of  the  Treasurer,  and  Election  of  Mr. 
Stevenson.  INIore  Land  at  the  Asylum.  Bequests  of  George 
Hills  and  of  Mrs.  S.  B.  Thompson.  Annual  Meeting.  Organi- 
zation for  1860.  Report  for  1859.  Dr.  Tyler's  Report.  Im- 
portant Votes.  Bequest  of  Jonathan  Phillips.  Reduction  of 
Expenses.  Annual  Meeting.  Organization  for  1861.  Report 
for  1860.  New  Cottage  at  the  Asylum.  Death  of  Mr.  Bow- 
ditch.  Sketch  of  his  Life  and  Character.  His  Work  on  Suffolk 
Surnames.  The  Civil  War.  Preparations  to  receive  Diseased 
and  Wounded  Soldiers.  A  New  Form  of  Bond  for  Patients  at 
the  Asylum.  Absence  of  the  Chairman.  Bounds  of  the  Hospital 
Grounds.     Donation  by  Mr.  W.  Appleton 510 


CHAPTER    XV. 

Feb.  5,  1862,  to  Feb.  22,  1867. 

Annual  Meeting. and  Organization  for  1862.  Report  for  1861. 
Death  of  the  President,  Mr.  Appleton,  and  Tribute  to  him. 
Invalid  Soldiers  at  the  Hospital.  Bequest  from  Miss  Townsend. 
United  States  Sanitary  Commission  ask  the  Services  of  Dr. 
Shaw  and  Dr.  Tyler.  Resignation  of  the  Steward  and  Matron 
of  the  Asylum.  Services  of  Dr.  Morrill  Wyman.  Legislation 
on  Asylums.    Annual  Meeting.    Organization  for  1863.    Report 


XVI  CONTENTS. 

Page 
foi"  1862.  Resignation  of  Dr.  Townsend.  Dr.  Tyler's  Tribute 
to  Dr.  Bell.  Sketch  of  him.  New  Cottage  for  Males  at  the 
Asylum.  Resignation  of  Dr.  Bacon  as  Chemist.  House  Pupils 
to  board  at  the  Hospital.  Dr.  J.  C.  White  elected  Chemist. 
Bequest  of  John  Pickens.  Death  of  Dr.  Hay  ward.  Dr.  Town- 
send  elected  Consulting  Physician.  Additional  Surgical 
House  Pupils.  Litigation  conctrning  Bequest  of  Miss  Loring. 
Bequest  of  Dr.  B.  D.  Greene.  Hours  for  the  Visits  of  Sur- 
geons and  Pliysicians.  A  Surgeon  to  Out-Patients.  Annual 
Meeting.  Organization  for  1864:.  Report  for  1863.  Historical 
Pamphlets  presented  by  Dr.  Shaw.  Legacy  of  William  Oliver. 
Resignation  of  Secretary  Hall.  Election  of  Mr.  W.  S.  Dexter. 
Resignation  of  Dr.  Bowditch,  and  choice  of  Dr.  C.  Ellis  as  a 
Visiting  Physician.  Other  Changes  among  the  Officers.  Trib- 
ute to  Dr.  J.  B.  S.  Jackson.  Bequest  of  Miss  Sever.  Annual 
Meeting.  Organization  for  1865.  Report  for  1861.  Death  of 
J.  Amory  Davis.  Resignation  and  Appointments  at  the  Asylum. 
Other  Resignations.  Annual  Meeting.  Organization  for  18G6. 
Report  for  1865.  Lnportant  Report  on  the  Finances  and  Circu- 
lar. Changes  of  Officers  at  Asylum.  Gift  of  Rev.  Dr.  Worcester. 
A  New  Operating  Theatre.  Leave  of  Absence  to  Dr.  Tyler. 
Gift  from  Rev.  J.  Spaulding.  Legacy  from  Miss  S.  Pratt.  An- 
nual Meeting.  Organization  for  1867.  Report  for  1866. 
Generous  Subscription.     Debt  paid.     Dr.  Tylers  Report     .      .     574 


CHAPTER     XVL       ^ 

February  22,  18G7,  to  1872. 

Dr.  Tyler's  Absence  in  Europe.  Gift  through  Dr.  J.  M.  Warren. 
New  Grounds  at  Asylum.  Female  Students  at  Hospital.  Death 
of  Dr.  J.  M.  Warren.  Dr.  J.  H.  Denny,  Assistant  at  Asylum. 
Legacy  from  Dr.  J.  I\L  Warren.  Death  of  Dr.  J.  Ja-kson. 
Be(|uest  from  him.  Religious  Services  at  Asylum.  Resignation 
of  Mr.  AVhitney.  Annual  Meeting.  Organization  for  1868. 
Report  for  1867.  New  Operating  Theatre.  Dr.  Tyler's  For- 
eign Observations.  Death  of  the  President  of  the  Corporation, 
Mr.  Hooper.  Further  Bequests.  Changes  in  the  IMedical  Stalf. 
Annual   Meeting.     Organization  for   1869.     Report   fur   1868. 


CONTENTS.  XVll 

Page 
Dr,  Tyler's  Review.  Lady  Visitors  at  Hospital.  New  Officers. 
Gift  from  John  C.  Gray.  Warren  Prize.  Appeal  from  Dr. 
Morton's  Family.  Annual  Meeting.  Organization  for  1870. 
Report  for  1869.  Department  for  Skin  Diseases.  Post  Mortem 
Register.  Committee  on  Autopsies.  Donations  from  Dr.  H.  J. 
Bigelow.  Female  Supervisor  at  Asylum.  Changes  of  Officers. 
New  Surgical  Instruments.  Legacy  from  Rev.  Dr.  Worcester. 
Experiment  of  a  Skin  Disease  Ward.  Annual  Meeting.  Or- 
ganization for  1871.  Report  for  1870.  Resignation  of  Dr. 
Tyler.  Resignation  of  Dr.  Whittemore.  An  Incident  con- 
nected with  the  Asylum.  Award  of  the  Warren  Prize.  Pro- 
posals for  a  New  Location  for  the  Asylum.  Resignation  of  Mr. 
Farnsworth.  Donations  received.  Subject  and  Advertisement 
for  the  next  Warren  Prize.  Dr.  Ray  in  Temporary  Charge  of 
the  Asylum.  Statistics  of  »Surgical  Operations.  Dr.  Jelly 
chosen  Superintendent  of  Asylum.  Dr.  H.  P.  Quincy,  Artist  of 
the  Hospital.  S.  D.  Warren,  Ti-ustee.  Donation  of  James 
McGregor.  The  Nabby  Joy  Fund.  Resignation  of  Dr.  Shaw. 
Election  of  Dr.  N.  Folsom  as  Resident  Physician  of  Hospital. 
Remarks  on  the  Hospital  and  Asylum.     Conclusion     ....     627 


Statistical  Tables  at  Hospital  and  Asylum 701 

Subscriptions,  Donations,  and  Bequests,  to  the  M.^ssachu- 

SETTS  General  Hospital 710 

Officers  of  the  Institution 731 


HISTORY 


MASSACHUSETTS    GENERAL    HOSPITAL. 


H  J  S  T  0  R  Y 


MASSACHUSETTS    GENERAL    HOSPITAL. 


CHAPTER    I. 

Urgent  Need  of  Hospital.  —  Bequest  of  William  Phillips,  1804. — 
Circular  Letter,  1810.  —  Charter,  1811.  —  Subsequent  Acts  to 
1851. — KiGiiTS  UNDER  Life-Insurance  Charters.  —  Grant  of  Prov- 
ince House.  —  Lease  of  Same  for  One  Hundred  Years,  &c. 

More  than  a  third  of  a  century*  has  elapsed  since  the 
establishment  of  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital. 
Its  endowments  amount  to,  and  perhaps  exceed,  one 
million  of  dollars.  Its  building  for  the  sick,  erected 
in  a  spacious  enclosure  of  four  acres,  is  one  of  the 
most  imposing  edifices  of  the  city  of  Boston.  Its 
Asylum  for  the  Insane  is  beautifully  situated  on  a 
rising  ground  within  the  quiet  precincts  of  the  adjoin- 
ing town  of  Somerville.  Nearly  fourteen  thousand 
patients  have  received  the  benefits  of  the  former 
department  of  the  institution,  and  more  than  thirty- 
three  hundred  have  been  inmates  of  the  latter.     The 

[*  Written  in  1851.] 
1 


^  NEED    OF    HOSPITAL. 

greatest  discovery  of  the  age  —  the  power  of  producing 
insensibility  to  pain  —  has  gone  forth  from  the  one  ; 
while  the  like  humane  treatment,  and  the  same  high 
professional  skill  evinced  in  the  other,  have  extended 
its  reputation  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of 
our  land,  and  gathered  within  its  walls  sufferers  alike 
from  tlie  frozen  North  and  the  sunny  South.  One 
generation  has  passed  away,  and  a  new  one  has  arisen. 
The  circumstances  and  instrumentalities  connected 
with  those  early  days  have  thus,  to  a  considerable 
extent,  already  become  matters  of  tradition.  Many 
of  the  original  patrons  and  officers  of  the  Hospital 
have  gone  to  their  reward.  A  few,  indeed,  yet  sur- 
vive, to  rejoice  in  the  extensive  usefulness  of  a  charity 
which  they  contributed,  in  an  eminent  degree,  to 
establish  and  perpetuate.  May  the  services  alike  of 
its  living;  and  its  deceased  founders  be  ever  held  in 
grateful  remembrance  ! 

At  the  beginning  of  the  present  century,  Massa- 
chusetts had  no  Hospital  or  Insane  Asylum,  though 
such  institutions  had  been  for  many  years  established 
in  the  States  of  New  York  and  Pennsylvania.  There 
were  various  indications,  however,  that  the  want  of 
such  establishments  was  beginning  to  be  felt  in  our 
community.*     Thomas  Boylston,  Esq.,  by  will  dated 

*  Thomas  Hancock  gave  a  sum  to  the  Town  between  1760-1770.  Eev. 
Frederick  T.  Gray  shewed  me  a  letter  stating  newspaper  reports  on  the  sub- 
ject. 


CIRCULAR   LETTER.  3 

Nov.  12,  1798,  proved  in  1800,  made  the  town  of 
Boston  his  residuary  devisee  in  trust,  among  other 
objects,  to  erect  a  small-pox  hospital  and  a  lunatic 
hospital.  The  testator  was,  unfortunately,  a  member 
of  the  firm  of  Lane,  Frazier,  and  Company,  of  Lon- 
don, which  became  insolvent.  Hon.  William  Phillips, 
by  a  codicil  dated  April  18,  1797,  proved  in  1804, 
bequeathed  the  sum  of  five  thousand  dollars  to  the 
town  of  Boston  for  this  object.*  In  August,  1810, 
a  circular  letter  was  prepared  by  Drs.  James  Jackson 
and  John  C.  Warren,  addressed  to  several  of  our 
wealthiest  and  most  influential  citizens,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  awakening  in  their  minds  an  interest  in  the 
subject.  This  circular  letter  may  be  regarded  as  the 
corner-stone  of  our  institution. f     On  the  25th  of  Feb- 

*  "  Fourthly,  —  I  give  to  the  town  of  Boston  five  thousand  dollars,  to- 
wards the  building  of  a  Hospital ;  and  direct  my  executors  to  pay  that  sum 
to  any  person  or  persons  wliom  the  town  shall  appoint  to  receive  the  same, 
as  soon  as  the;/  shall  determine  to  bei/tn  the  ivork." 

t  Boston,  August  20,  1810. 

Sir,  —  It  has  appeared  very  desirable  to  a  number  of  respectable  gentle- 
men, that  a  hospital  for  the  reception  of  lunatics  and  other  sick  persons  should 
be  established  in  this  town.  By  the  appointment  of  a  number  of  these  gen- 
tlemen, we  are  directed  to  adopt  such  methods  as  shall  appear  best  calculated 
to  promote  such  an  establishment.  We  therefore  beg  leave  to  submit  for 
your  consideration  proposals  for  the  institution  of  a  hospital,  and  to  state  to 
you  some  of  the  reasons  in  favour  of  such  an  establishment. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  urge  the  propriety  and  even  obligation  of  succouring 
the  poor  in  sickness.  The  wealthy  inhabitants  of  the  town  of  Boston  have 
always  evinced  that  they  consider  themselves  as  "treasurers  of  God's 
bounty ;  "  and  in  Christian  countries,  in  countries  where  Christianity  is  prac- 
tised, it  must  always  be  considered  the  first  of  duties  to  visit  and  to  heal  tlie 
sick.    When  in  distress,  every  man  becomes  our  neighbour,  not  only  if  he  be 


4  CHARTER    OF    HOSPITAL. 

ruary  following  (1811),  the  charter  was  obtained  from 
the  Legislature.  It  incorporates  James  Bowdoin  and 
fifty-five  others  of  the  most  distinguished  inhabitants 

of  the  household  of  faith,  but  even  though  his  misfortunes  have  been  induced 
by  transgressing  the  rules  both  of  reason  and  religion.  It  is  unnecessary  to 
urge  the  truth  and  importance  of  these  sentiments  to  those  who  are  already 
in  the  habit  of  cherishing  them,  —  to  those  who  indulge  in  the  true  luxury  of 
wealth,  the  pleasures  of  charity.  The  questions  which  first  suggest  them- 
selves on  this  subject  are,  wliether  the  relief  afforded  by  hospitals  is  better 
than  can  be  given  in  anj-  other  way ;  and  whether  there  are,  in  tact,  so  many 
poor  among  us  as  to  require  an  establishment  of  this  sort. 

The  relief  to  be  afforded  to  the  poor,  in  a  country  so  rich  as  ours,  should 
perhaps  be  measured  only  by  their  necessities.  We  have,  then,  to  inquire 
into  the  situation  of  the  poor  in  sickness,  and  to  learn  what  are  their  wants. 
In  this  inquiry,  we  shall  be  led  to  answer  both  the  questions  above  stated. 

There  are  some  who  are  able  to  acquire  a  competence  in  health,  and  to 
provide  so  far  against  any  ordinary  sickness  as  that  they  shall  not  then  be 
deprived  of  a  comfortable  habitation,  nor  of  food  for  themselves  and  tiieir 
families ;  while  they  are  not  able  to  defray  tlie  expenses  of  medicine  and 
medical  assistance.  Persons  of  tins  description  never  suffer  among  us.  The 
Dispensary  gives  relief  to  hundreds  every  year ;  and  the  individuals  who 
practise  medicine  gratuitously  attend  many  more  of  this  description.  But 
there  are  many  others  among  the  poor,  who  have,  if  we  may  so  express  it, 
the  form  of  the  necessaries  of  life,  without  the  substance.  A  man  may  have 
a  lodging ;  but  it  is  deficient  in  all  those  advantages  which  are  requisite  to 
the  sick.  It  is  a  garret  or  a  cellar,  without  light  and  due  ventilation,  or  open 
to  the  storms  of  an  inclement  winter.  In  this  miserable  habitation,  he  may 
obtain  liberty  to  remain  during  an  illness  ;  but,  if  honest,  he  is  harassed  with 
the  idea  of  his  accumulating  rent,  which  must  be  paid  out  of  his  future 
labours.  In  this  wretched  situation,  the  sick  man  is  destitute  of  all  those 
common  conveniences,  without  which  most  of  us  would  consider  it  impossible 
to  live,  even  in  health.  Wholesome  food  and  sufficient  fuel  are  wanting ; 
and  his  own  sufferings  are  aggravated  by  the  cries  of  hungry  children. 
Above  all,  he  suffers  from  the  want  of  that  first  requisite  in  sickness,  a  kind 
and  skilful  nurse. 

But  it  may  be  said,  that  instances  are  rare  among  us,  where  a  man,  who 
labours,  with  even  moderate  industry,  when  in  health,  endures  such  priva- 
tions in  sickness  as  are  here  described.  They  are  not,  however,  rare  among 
those  who  are  not  industrious  ;  and  who,  nevertheless,  when  labouring  under 
sickness,  must  be  considered  as  having  claims  to  assistance.     In  cases  of 


CHARTER    OF    HOSPITAL.  5 

of  the  various  towns  of  the  Commonwealth,  by  the 
name  of  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital,  with 
power  to  hold  real  and  personal  estate  of  the  yearly 

long-protracted  disecise,  instances  of  such  a  description  do  occur  amongst 
those  of  the  most  industrious  class.  Such  instances  are  still  less  rare 
among  those  women  who  are  either  widowed,  or  worse  than  widowed.  It 
liappens  too  frequently  that  modest  and  worthy  women  are  imited  to  men 
who  are  profligate  and  intemperate,  hy  whom  they  are  left  to  endure  disease 
and  poverty  under  the  most  aggravated  forms.  Among  the  children  of  sucli 
families  also,  instances  are  not  rare  of  real  suffering  in  sickness.  To  all 
such  as  have  been  described,  a  hospital  would  supply  every  thing  wliicli 
is  needful,  if  not  all  they  could  wish.  In  a  well-regulated  hospital,  tliey 
would  find  a  comfortable  lodging  in  a  duly  attempered  atmosphere;  would 
receive  the  food  best  suited  to  their  various  conditions ;  and  would  be 
attended  by  kind  and  discreet  nurses,  under  the  directions  of  a  physician. 
In  such  a  situation,  the  poor  man's  chance  for  relief  would  be  equal  perhaps 
to  that  of  the  most  affluent,  when  affected  by  the  same  disease. 

Tliere  are  otlier  persons,  also,  who  are  of  great  importance  in  society,  to 
whom  the  relief  afforded  by  a  hospital  is  exceedingly  appropriate.  Sucli 
are  generally  those  of  good  and  industrious  habits,  who  are  affected  with 
sickness,  just  as  they  are  entering  into  active  life,  and  who  have  not  had 
time  to  provide  for  this  calamity.  Cases  of  this  sort  are  frequently  occur- 
ring. Disease  is  often  produced  by  the  very  anxiety  and  exertions  which 
belong  to  this  period  of  life ;  and  the  best  are  the  most  liable  to  suffer.  Ot 
such  a  description,  cases  are  often  seen  among  journeymen  mechanics  and 
among  servants. 

Journeymen  mechanics  commonly  live  in  small  boarding-houses,  where 
they  have  accommodations  which  are  sufficient,  but  nothing  more  than 
sufficient,  in  health.  When  sick,  they  are  necessarily  placed  in  small,  con- 
fined apartments,  or  in  rooms  crowded  with  their  fellow-workmen.  They 
are  sheltered  from  the  weather,  and  Iiave  food  of  some  sort;  and  these  nmst, 
in  many  cases,  be  the  extent  of  their  accommodations.  Persons  of  this 
description  would  do  well  to  enter  a  hospital,  even  if  they  had  to  pay  the 
expense  of  their  own  maintenance.  In  most  cases,  they  would  suffer  less, 
and  recover  sooner,  by  so  doing.  When,  as  sometimes  happens,  they  have 
not  the  means  of  payment,  they  become  objects  of  charity  ;  and  the  welfare 
of  such  persons  should  be  considered  among  the  strong  motives  in  favour  of 
establishing  a  hospital. 

Servants  generally  undergo  great  inconveniences,  at  least  when  afflicted 
with  sickness,  and  oftentimes  much  more  than  inconveniences.     With  so 


6  CHARTER    OF    HOSPITAL. 

value  of  thirty  thousand  dollars.  The  Governor, 
Lieutenant-Governor,  President  of  the  Senate,  Speaker 
of  the  House,  and  the  Chaplains  of  both  Houses,  are 

much  difficulty  is  the  care  of  them  attended  in  private  families,  that  many 
gentlemen  would  pay  the  board  of  their  servants  at  a  hospital,  in  preference 
to  liaving  them  sick  in  their  own  houses.  In  some  cases,  however,  neither 
the  master  nor  servant  can  afford  the  expense  of  proper  care  in  sickness. 
Not  uncommonly,  a  young  girl  is  taken  sick  in  a  large  family,  wiiere  she  is 
the  only  servant.  Slie  lodges  in  the  most  remote  corner  of  the  house,  in  a 
room  witiiout  a  fireplace.  The  mistress  is  sufficiently  occupied  with  the 
unusual  labours  wiiich  are  thrown  on  her  at  a  time  perhaps  when  she  is 
least  fitted  to  perform  them.  Under  such  circumstances,  how  can  the  ser- 
vant receive  those  attentions  which  are  due  to  the  sick  ?  Of  wliat  use  is  it 
tliat  the  physician  leaves  a  prescription  to  be  put  up  at  the  Dispensary  1 
He  goes  the  next  day,  and  finds  that  there  has  not  been  time  even  to 
procure  the  remedies  which  he  had  ordered;  meanwhile,  the  period  in 
wliicli  tiiey  would  have  been  useful  has  passed  by,  and  the  incipient  disease 
of  yesterday  has  now  become  confirmed. 

Persons  of  these  descriptions  would  not  be  disposed  to  resort  to  a  hos- 
pital on  every  trivial  occasion.  But,  wlien  affiicted  with  serious  indisposition, 
they  would  find  in  sucli  an  institution  an  alleviation  of  their  sufferings, 
whicli  it  must  gladden  the  heart  of  the  most  frigid  to  contemplate. 

There  is  one  class  of  sufferers  wlio  peculiarly  claim  all  that  benevolence 
can  bestow,  and  for  whom  a  hospital  is  most  especially  required.  The 
virtuous  and  industrious  are  liable  to  become  objects  of  public  cliarity,  in 
consequence  of  diseases  of  the  mind.  Wlien  those  wlio  are  unfortunate  in 
tins  respect  are  left  without  proper  care,  a  calamity,  which  might  have  been 
transient,  is  prolonged  tiirough  life.  The  number  of  such  persons,  who  are 
rendered  unable  to  provide  for  themselves,  is  probably  greater  than  the  pub- 
lic imagine  ;  and,  of  these,  a  large  proportion  claim  the  assistance  of  the  • 
affluent.  The  expense  wiiich  is  attaciied  to  the  care  of  the  insane  in  private 
families  is  extremely  great ;  and  sucli  as  to  ruin  a  whole  family  that  is  pos- 
sessed of  a  competence  under  ordinary  circumstances,  when  called  upon  to 
support  one  of  its  members  in  this  situation.  Even  those  wlio  can  pay  the 
necessary  expenses  would  perhaps  find  an  institution,  such  as  is  proposed, 
tlie  best  situation  in  whicli  they  could  place  their  unfortunate  friends.  It 
is  worthy  of  the  opulent  men  of  this  town,  and  consistent  with  tlieir  general 
character,  to  provide  an  asylum  for  the  insane  from  every  part  of  the  Com- 
'monwealth.  But  if  funds  are  raised  for  the  purpose  proposed,  it  is  probable 
that  the  Legislature  will  grant  some  assistance,  with  a  view  to  such  an  exten- 
sion of  its  benefits. 


CHARTER    OF    HOSPITAL.  i 

constituted  a  board  of  Visitors.  The  institution  is 
placed  under  the  care  of  twelve  Trustees,  of  whom 
four  are  chosen  by  the  board  of  Visitors.     A  grant 

Of  anotlier  class,  whose  necessities  would  be  removed  by  the  establish- 
ment of  a  hospital,  are  women  wlio  are  unable  to  provide  for  their  own 
welfare  and  safety  in  one  of  nature's  most  trying  hours.  Houses  for  lying- 
in  women  have  been  found  extremely  useful  in  the  large  cities  of  Europe; 
and,  although  abuses  may  have  arisen  in  consequence,  these  are  such  as  are 
more  easily  prevented  in  a  small  than  in  a  large  town. 

There  are  man}'  others  who  would  find  great  relief  in  a  hospital,  and  many 
times  have  life  preserved  when  otherwise  it  would  be  lost.  Such  especially 
are  the  subjects  of  accidental  wounds  and  fractures  among  the  poorer  classes 
of  our  citizens;  and  the  subjects  of  extraordinary  diseases,  in  any  part  of  the 
Commonwealth,  who  may  require  the  long  and  careful  attention  of  either 
the  physician  or  surgeon. 

It  is  possible  that  we  may  be  asked  whether  the  almshouse  docs  not  answer 
tlie  purposes  for  which  a  hospital  is  proposed.  That  it  does  not,  is  very  cer- 
tain. The  town  is  so  much  indebted  to  the  liberality  of  those  gentlemen 
who,  without  compensation,  superintend  the  care  of  the  poor,  that  we  ought 
not  to  make  this  reply  without  an  explanation.  The  truth  is  that  the  alms- 
house could  not  serve  tlie  purpose  oi  a  hospital,  without  such  an  entire  change 
in  the  arrangements  of  it  as  the  overseers  do  not  feel  themselves  authorized 
to  make,  and  such  as  the  town  could  not  be  easily  induced  to  direct  or  to  sup- 
port. 

The  almshouse  receives  all  those  who  do  not  take  care  of  themselves,  and 
who  are  destitute  of  property,  whether  they  be  old  and  infirm,  and  unable  to 
provide  means  of  assistance;  or  are  too  vicious  and  debauched  to  employ 
themselves  in  honest  labour;  or  are  prevented  from  so  employing  themselves 
by  occasional  sickness.  This  institution,  then,  is  made  to  compreliend  what 
is  more  properly  meant  by  an  almshouse,  a  bridewell  or  house  of  correction, 
and  a  hospital.  Now,  the  economy  and  mode  of  government  cannot  possibly 
be  adapted  at  once  to  all  these  various  purposes.  It  must  necessarily  happen 
that  in  many  instances  the  worst  members  of  the  community,  the  debauched 
and  profligate,  obtain  admission  into  this  house.  Hence  it  has  become,  in 
some  measure,  disreputable  to  live  in  it ;  and,  not  unfrequently,  those  who 
are  the  most  deserving  objects  of  charity  cannot  be  induced  to  enter  it.  To 
some  of  them,  death  appears  less  terrible  than  a  residence  in  the  almshouse. 

It  is  true  that  the  sick  in  that  house  are  allowed  some  greater  privileges 
and  advantages  than  are  extended  to  those  in  health  ;  yet  the  general  ar- 
rangements and  regulations  are,  necessarily,  so  different  from  those  required 


8  CHARTER    OF    HOSPITAL. 

was  made  of  the  Province-house  Estate,  so  called, 
■with  authority  to  sell  the  same  and  use  the  proceeds 
at  pleasure,  provided  that  within  five  years  an  addi- 

in  a  hospital,  tliat  the  sick  —  far  from  having  the  advantages  afforded  by  the 
medical  art  —  have  not  the  fair  chance  for  recovery  which  nature  alone  would 
give  them.  Most  especially  they  suffer  for  the  want  of  good  nurses.  In 
these  officers  must  be  placed  trust  and  confidence  of  the  higliest  nature. 
Tlieir  duties  are  laborious  and  painful.  In  the  almshouse,  they  are  selected 
from  among  the  more  healthy  inhabitants ;  but,  unfortunately,  those  who  are 
best  qualified  will  always  prefer  more  profitable  and  less  laborious  occupa- 
tions elsewhere.  It  must,  then,  be  obvious  that  tlie  persons  employed  as 
nurses  cannot  be  such  as  will  conscientiously  perform  the  duties  of  this 
office. 

In  addition  to  what  has  already  been  stated,  there  are  a  number  of  col- 
lateral advantages  that  would  attend  the  establishment  of  a  hospital  in  this 
place.  These  are  the  facilities  for  acquiring  knowledge,  which  it  would  give 
to  the  students  in  the  medical  school  established  in  this  town.  The  means  of 
medical  education  in  New  England  are  at  present  very  limited,  and  totally 
inadequate  to  so  important  a  purpose.  Students  of  medicine  cannot  qualify 
themselves  properly  for  their  profession,  without  incurring  heavy  expenses, 
such  as  very  few  of  them  are  able  to  defray.  The  only  medical  school  of 
eminence  in  this  country  is  that  at  Philadeliihia,  nearly  four  hundred  miles 
distant  from  Boston ;  and  the  expense  of  attending  that  is  so  great,  that  stu- 
dents from  this  quarter  rarely  remain  at  it  longer  than  one  year.  Even  this 
advantage  is  enjoyed  by  very  few,  compared  with  the  whole  number.  Those 
who  are  educated  in  New  England  have  so  few  opportunities  of  attending  to 
the  practice  of  physic,  that  they  find  it  impossible  to  learn  some  of  the  most 
important  elements  of  the  science  of  medicine,  until  after  they  liave  under- 
t<aken  for  themselves  the  care  of  the  health  and  lives  of  their  fellow-citizens. 
This  care  they  undertake  with  very  little  knowledge,  except  that  acquired 
from  books ;  —  a  source  whence  it  is  highly  useful  and  indispensable  that 
they  should  obtain  knowledge,  but  one  from  which  alone  they  never  can 
obtain  all  that  is  necessary  to  qualify  them  for  their  professional  duties. 
With  such  deficiencies  in  medical  education,  it  is  needless  to  show  to  what 
evils  the  comnmnity  is  exposed. 

To  remedy  evils  so  important  and  so  extensive,  it  is  necessary  to  have  <a 
medical  school  in  New  England.  All  the  materials  necessary  to  form  this 
school  exist  among  us.  Wealth,  abundantly  sufficient,  can  be  devoted  to  the 
purpose,  without  any  individual's  feeling  the  smallest  privation  of  any,  even 
of  the  luxuries  of  life.     Every  one  is  liable  to  sufier  from  the  want  of  such  a 


CHARTER    OF    HOSPITAL.  9 

tional  sum  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  should 
be  obtained  by  private  subscriptions  and  donations. 
A  further  term  of  five  years  was  allowed  by  an  Act  of 
June  14,  1813.  The  Charter  imposed  on  the  Corpo- 
ration the  obligation  of  supporting  thirty  of  the  sick 
and  lunatic  persons  chargeable  to  the  Commonwealth. 
This  provision  was  modified  by  the  additional  Act,  so 
as  to  make  the  number  of  patients  to  be  thus  sup- 
ported depend  on  the  actual  income  derived  from  the 
Province  House.  The  tendency  of  any  such  provi- 
sion,  however,   was    considered   disadvantageous,   as 


school ;  every  one  may  derive,  directly  or  indirectly,  tiie  greatest  benefits 
from  its  establishment. 

A  hospital  is  an  institution  absolutely  essential  to  a  medical  school,  and 
one  which  would  afford  relief  and  comfort  to  thousands  of  the  sick  and  mis- 
erable. On  what  other  objects  can  the  superfluities  of  the  rich  be  so  well 
bestowed  ? 

The  amount  required  for  the  institution  proposed  may,  at  first  sight, 
appear  large.  But  it  will  cease  to  appear  so,  when  we  consider  that  it  is  to 
afford  relief,  not  only  to  those  who  may  require  assistance  during  the  present 
year  or  present  age,  but  that  it  is  to  erect  a  most  honourable  monument  of 
the  munificence  of  the  present  times,  which  will  ensure  to  its  founders  the 
blessings  of  thousands  in  ages  to  come ;  and  when  we  add  that  this  amount 
may  be  raised  at  once,  if  a  few  opulent  men  will  contribute  only  their  super- 
fluous income  for  one  year.  Compared  with  the  benefits  which  such  an 
establishment  would  afford,  of  what  value  is  the  pleasure  of  accumulating 
riches  in  those  stores  which  are  already  groaning  under  their  weight? 

Hospitals  and  infirmaries  are  found  in  all  the  Christian  cities  of  the  Old 
World ;  and  our  large  cities  in  the  Middle  States  have  institutions  of  this  sort, 
which  do  great  honour  to  the  liberality  and  benevolence  of  their  founders . 
We  flatter  ourselves  that  in  this  respect,  as  in  all  others,  Boston  may  ere  long- 
assert  her  claim  to  equal  praise. 

We  are,  sir,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servants, 

James  Jackson. 
John  C.  Warren. 
2 


10  ACTS    AND    RESOLVES. 

making  the  institution  a  merely  pauper  establish- 
ment ;  and  it  was  virtually  repealed  by  a  resolve  passed 
Feb.  13,  1816. 

By  this  resolve  of  1816,  authority  was  finally 
granted  for  sale  of  the  Province  House,  on  the  sole 
condition  of  giving  bond  to  pay  the  proceeds  of  sale 
into  the  State  Treasury,  unless,  within  one  year  from 
such  sale,  said  additional  sum  of  one  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars  should  be  obtained. 

By  a  resolve  passed  June  12,  1817,  it  is  provided 
that  the  stone  for  the  erection  of  the  Hospital  should 
be  hammered  and  jfitted  for  use  by  the  convicts  in  the 
State  Prison.  The  work  thus  done  is  estimated  at 
over  thirty  thousand  dollars.  And,  by  a  resolve  of 
Feb.  11,  1824,  a  bill  due  from  the  Hospital  for  stone 
work  at  the  State  Prison,  for  the  use  of  the  Insane 
Asylum  ($4,176.33),  was  remitted,  as  coming  within 
the  resolve  of  1817. 

An  Act  passed  June  18,  1819,  points  out  the  mode 
of  filling  vacancies  in  the  Board  of  Trustees.  An 
Act  passed  Feb.  15,  1821,  exonerates  from  perform- 
ance of  military  duty  certain  officers  of  the  Hospital ; 
and  a  like  exemption  is  provided  for  by  the  Revised 
Statutes,  passed  in  1836. 

By  an  Act  passed  Feb.  24,  1814,  the  Corporation 
was  authorized  to  grant  annuities  on  lives.  In  a 
charter,  subsequently  granted  to    the    Massachusetts 


LIFE-INSURANCE    CHARTERS.  11 

Hospital  Life  Insurance  Company,  a  proviso  was 
inserted,  by  which  one-third  of  its  whole  net  profits 
from  insurance  on  lives  is  made  payable  to  the  Hos- 
pital. An  additional  Act,  passed  Jan.  17,  1824, 
sanctions  a  most  important  agreement  between  these 
two  Corporations,  by  which  the  Hospital,  in  lieu  of 
all  former  rights,  became  entitled  to  one-third  of  all 
the  earnings  of  said  Insurance  Company,  over  and 
above  six  per  cent.  Now,  this  Insurance  Company 
has  a  capital  of  five  hundred  thousand  dollars  ;  and 
the  chief  branch  of  its  business  is  the  management 
of  property  deposited  with  it  in  trust,  and  for  which 
a  charge  is  made  of  one  half  per  cent  commission. 
The  regular  annual  dividends  for  several  years  have 
been  nine  per  cent,  —  say  eight  per  cent  to  stock- 
holders, and  one  per  cent,  or  five  thousand  dollars  a 
year,  to  the  Hospital ;  and  three  extra  dividends  have 
also  been  received,  making  a  total  of  $150,687.  In 
all  the  charters  subsequently  granted  for  insurance  on 
lives,  similar  provisions  in  favor  of  the  Hospital  have 
been  introduced,  viz. :  the  New  England  Mutual  Life 
Insurance  Company,  April  1,  1835 ;  State  Mutual 
Life  Insurance  Company,  March  16,  1844;  the  Bow- 
ditch  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Company,  March  26, 
1845.  Little  has  yet  been  or  ever  can  be  realized 
under  these  latter  charters,  as  the  percentage  of  the 
Hospital  is  reckoned  only  on  the  guaranty  caintal  of 


12  LIFE-INSURANCE    CHARTERS. 

said  companies,  which  is  quite  small.  The  granting 
of  any  such  charter,  without  such  a  provision,  would, 
however,  exonerate  the  Massachusetts  Hospital  Life 
Insurance  Company  from  all  obligations  in  favor  of 
the  Hospital ;  or,  in  other  words,  would,  as  respects 
its  sources  of  income,  be  a  loss  to  the  Hospital  of 
more  than  a  hundred  thousand  dollars.  To  prevent 
such  a  contingency,  a  bill  was  reported  and  discussed 
at  the  present  session  of  the  Legislature,  in  the 
words  following  :  — 

"  Whenever  any  persons  or  corporation  shall  be  empow- 
ered to  make  insurance  on  lives  upon  land,  the  right  so  to 
do  shall  be  deemed  subject  to  the  same  obligations  for  the 
payment  of  a  certain  share  of  the  profit  accruing  tlierefrom, 
to  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital,  as  are  imposed  on 
the  Massachusetts  Hospital  Life  Insurance  Company,  by  the 
laws  now  in  force,  unless  express  provision  to  the  contrary 
shall  be  made  in  the  Act  or  Acts  empowering  any  such 
persons  or  corporation  to  make  such  insurance  on  lives  as 
aforesaid." 

The  passage  of  such  a  law  was,  of  course,  imma- 
terial to  the  Hospital,  if  the  Legislature,  in  each 
particular  charter,  should  continue  to  insert  the  same 
provisions  as  had  always  heretofore  been  done.  To 
show  the  importance  either  of  such  general  or  special 
legislation,  the  Chairman  of  the  Trustees  submitted  a 
memorial  to  the  Legislature,  May  5,  1851,  stating  the 
exact  amount  which  had  been  received  from  the  Mas- 


GRAIN  T    OF    PROVINCE    HOUSE.  13 

sachusetts  Hospital  Life  Insurance  Company,  but 
expressing  no  wish  for  the  passage  of  any  general 
law.     The  proposed  law  was  passed. 

The  above  is  a  condensed  view  of  all  the  legislative 
enactments  respecting  the  Hospital  from  its  founda- 
tion to  the  present  time.  The  Province-house  Estate, 
thus  liberally  given  by  the  Commonwealth,  embraced 
a  tract  of  land  measuring  eighty-six  feet  six  inches 
on  Washington,  formerly  Marlborough  Street,  and 
extended  back  two  hundred  and  sixty-seven  feet  to 
Governor's  Alley  or  Province  Street,  where  it  meas- 
ured in  width  seventy-six  feet,  being  about  half  an 
acre  of  land.  Stores  have  now  been  erected  in  front 
on  Washington  Street ;  and  a  block  of  brick  houses,  on 
the  northerly  side  of  Province-house  Court,  stand 
on  the  back  part  of  the  estate.  The  old  Province 
House  still  remains,  surmounted  by  its  figure  of  an 
Indian,  though  the  days  of  its  glory  have  departed. 
In  1796  it  had  been  sold  to  John  Peck  for  ^  16,600, 
and  in  1799  was  reconveyed  for  the  same  price.  At 
the  time  of  the  donation  to  the  Hospital,  it  was 
valued  at  twenty  thousand  dollars.  In  the  early 
accounts  of  the  Hospital  (1822),  it  is  estimated  as 
worth  forty  thousand  dollars.  It  would  now  proba- 
bly sell  for  at  least  one  hundred  thousand  dollars, 
independently  of  all  improvements.  On  April  1, 
1817,  the  Hospital  leased  this  estate  to  David  Gree- 


14  GRANT  OF  PROVINCE  HOUSE. 

nough,  Esq.,  for  ninety-nine  years,  at  an  annual  rent 
of  two  thousand  dollars,  or  an  outright  sum  of  thirty- 
three  thousand  dollars,  at  his  option  ;  and,  on  Oct.  1, 
1824,  he  elected  to  pay  this  latter  sum.  The  rever- 
sion of  the  estate  (to  come  into  possession  in  A.D. 
1916)  still  remains  in  the  Hospital.  Its  present  value 
is  small.  But  the  Corporation  will  live  for  ever ;  and 
it  is  to  be  hoped  that  no  future  Board  of  Trustees  will 
alienate  this,  the  first  donation  made  to  the  institution. 
Rather  let  it  remain  to  the  latest  times  an  enduring 
monument  of  the  liberality  of  the  Commonwealth,  as 
in  times  past  it  was  the  representative  of  its  official 
dignity.  And,  in  acknowledgment  of  this  splendid 
gift,  and  of  the  many  subsequent  benefits  derived 
from  the  same  source,  may  our  institution  always 
preserve  unchanged  its  corporate  name  of  the  Mas- 
sachusetts General  Hospital ! 


15 


CHAPTER    11. 

1813-1817. 

Organization.  —  Trustees  Elected,  1813.  —  Liberal  Subscriptions. — 
Purchases  of  Two  Estates. — Deed  op  Asylum  Estate,  on  Condition. 

—  Defect  of  Title  in  Hospital  Estate,  but  claim  favorably  com- 
promised,—  Its  greatly  increased  Value.  —  Choice  of  Dr.  James 
Jackson  and  Dr.  John  C.  Warren  as  Physician  and  Surgeon  op 
Hospital. — Lieutenant-Governor  William  Phillips  increases  his 
Father's  Gift  of  Five  Thousand  to  Twenty  Thousand  Dollars. 

—  Common  Seal. 

A  CHARTEK,  had  now  been  obtained,  containing  a 
liberal  grant,  made  on  the  condition  that  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars  more  should  he  subscribed  by  indi- 
viduals. The  fifty-six  persons  named  in  the  Act  were 
the  first  members  of  the  Corporation.  By  by-laws, 
subsequently  adopted,  all  who  are  specially  elected, 
all  who  have  given  one  hundred  dollars,  and  all  who 
have  served  as  Trustees,  are  made  members  of  the 
Corporation.  The  first  meeting  of  the  Corporation 
was  held  on  April  23,  1811,  —  Hon.  John  Adams, 
moderator,  —  at  which  Richard  Sullivan  was  chosen 
Secretary,  and  a  Committee  appointed  to  prepare  by- 
laws, which  were  adopted  July  5,  as  reported  by  the 
Committee.  They  are  recorded  in  extenso,  occupying 
ten  large  folio  pages.     They  have  been  since  modified 


16  ORGANIZATIONS.  TRUSTEES. 

as  convenience  or  necessity  dictated  ;  and,  as  a  large 
edition  has  been  printed  of  the  present  rules,  &c., 
no  analysis  of  these  earlier  regulations  is  thought 
necessary.  At  this  last  meeting,  thanks  were  pre- 
sented to  Josiah  Loring  for  the  gift  of  an  elegant 
record-book.  It  is  still  used,  and  will  last  fifty  years 
more.  Trustees  were  not  chosen  till  Feb.  2,  1813. 
The  Corporation  was  organized  by  a  President  and 
Vice-President,  Treasurer  and  Secretary ;  the  Secre- 
tary being,  ex  officio,  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Trus- 
tees. At  first,  the  President  always  attended  the 
meetings  of  Trustees,  and  presided  ;  but,  since  1818, 
the  Trustees  have  acted  by  a  Chairman,  who  presides 
at  all  their  meetings ;  the  duty  of  the  President  or 
Vice-President  being  merely  to  preside  at  the  annual 
meetings  of  the  Corporation.  The  earliest  record- 
book  of  the  Trustees  is  a  little  volume,  of  about  five 
inches  by  eight,  of  the  poorest  and  cheapest  paper 
and  covers,  containing  a  hundred  and  sixty  pages.  It 
forms  an  amusing  contrast  with  its  more  brilliant 
successors.  It  embraces  the  period  from  1813  to 
1817  inclusive.  The  first  Board  of  Trustees  con- 
sisted of  Messrs.  T.  H.  Perkins,  Josiah  Quincy, 
Daniel  Sargent,  Joseph  May,  Stephen  Iligginson,  jun., 
Gamaliel  Bradford,  Tristram  Barnard,  George  G. 
Lee,  Francis  C.  Lowell,  Joseph  Tilden,  John  L.  Sulli- 
van, and  Richard  Sullivan.     Messrs.  Quincy,  Higgin- 


SITES    FOR    THE    HOSPITAL.  17 

son,  Lowell,  and  Tilden  were  chosen  by  the  Board  of 
Visitors  ;  and,  of  the  remaining  eight,  six  were  spe- 
cially elected  members  of  the  Corporation,  namely,  all 
except  Thomas  H.  Perkins  and  E,ichard  Sullivan,  who 
were  named  in  the  Act  of  Incorporation.  No  changes 
occurred  in  the  Board,  until  the  choice  of  Jonathan 
Phillips  by  the  Board  of  Visitors,  in  place  of  Mr. 
Higginson,  in  February,  1816  ;  and  the  choice  of 
John  Lowell  and  Joseph  Coolidge,  jun.,  by  the  same 
Board,  in  December  of  the  same  year,  in  place  of 
F.  C.  Lowell  and  Joseph  Tilden  ;  —  the  others  having 
resigned.  At  the  first  meeting  of  the  Trustees,  Feb. 
23,  1813,  held  at  the  house  of  Colonel  T.  H.  Perkins, 
the  draft  of  an  address  to  the  public  was  read, 
adopted,  and  ordered  to  be  printed,  "  with  a  suitable 
circular  letter  to  every  clergyman  in  the  Common- 
wealth ; "  Colonel  May  and  the  Secretary  being  a 
Committee  for  that  purpose.  At  the  same  meeting, 
Messrs.  Barnard  and  Higginson  were  appointed  a 
Committee  as  to  selecting  a  site  for  the  Hospital, 
either  on  the  Almshouse  land  (in  Leverett  Street),  or 
elsewhere.  At  the  next  meeting,  March  9,  the  Com- 
mittee reported  unfavorably  as  to  that  site,  and  sug- 
gested for  consideration  the  Winthrop  Estate  in 
Cambridge,  or  the  made  land  at  bottom  of  the 
Common,  since  known  as  the  Public  Garden.  A 
plan  was  subsequently  made  of  this  last  estate  ;  and, 


18  ADDRESS    OF    TRUSTEES. 

at  a  meeting  held  May  14,  several  communications 
from  physicians,  Drs.  Rand,  Hayward,  Warren,  and 
Dexter  (besides  a  special  communication  from  Drs. 
Jackson  and  Warren),  recommending  it,  were  re- 
ceived and  read  ;  and  Messrs.  Perkins,  Barnard,  and 
Higginson  were  appointed  a  Committee  to  see  gentle- 
men residing  near  the  Common,  to  obviate  objections, 
if  any,  to  that  location.  On  Nov.  22,  the  expediency 
of  establishing  a  temporary  Hospital  in  the  Province 
House  was  discussed.  On  Jan.  9,  1814,  an  address 
to  the  public,  having  been  approved  by  the  overseers 
of  the  poor,  was  adopted,  and  Committees  appointed 
to  solicit  subscriptions.  This  address  is  extant  in  a 
pamphlet  form.  It  is  drawn  up  with  great  earnest- 
ness, and  is  signed  by  the  whole  twelve  Trustees.  It 
is  published  with  the  following  motto  :  — 

"  As,  in  some  solitude,  tlie  summer  rill 
Refreshes,  where  it  winds,  the  faded  green. 
And  cheers  the  drooping  flowers,  unheard,  unseen, 
Such  is  this  charity  !  "  &c.* 

The  address  shows  the  urgent  need  of  such  an  in- 
stitution for  the  relief  both  of  sick  and  insane  ;  that 
the  Almshouse  is  in  its  nature  a  mere  asylum  for 
poverty ;  that  indeed  "  the  Almshouse  in  this  metrop- 

*  On  the  publication  of  the  first  edition,  I  received  a  note  from  President 
Quincy,  in  which  lie  informs  me  that  his  daughter  reminds  liim  of  the  fact 
that  this  address  was  written  by  himself,  the  motto  having  been  selected  by 
his  late  wife. 


ADDRESS    OF    TRUSTEES.  19 

olis  does  not  pretend  to  cure  ;  "  and  that  "  all  it  j^os- 
sesses  are  accommodations  for  eight  patients.''  It 
then  proceeds  to  show  the  safeguards  as  to  the  man- 
agement of  the  proposed  institution,  —  that  "its 
conductors  are  responsible  to  the  executive  of  the 
Commonwealth  and  to  the  subscribers  by  an  annual 
election ;  "  that  it  is  designed  to  be  a  State  establish- 
ment, extending  its  benefits  to  all ;  that,  without  the 
aid  of  all,  the  condition  annexed  to  the  grant  of  the 
Commonwealth  cannot  be  complied  with.  The  basis 
of  the  subscription  is  announced  to  be,  that  "  no  sum 
subscribed  shall  be  demanded,  unless,  before  Jan.  1, 
1815,  the  sum  subscribed  by  individuals  to  the  in- 
stitution shall  amount  to  at  least  a  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars."  The  Trustees  declare,  that  a  liberal 
endowment  at  the  outset  is  essential  to  the  reputation, 
and  therefore  to  the  usefulness  of  the  institution ; 
and  they  conclude  with  the  following  paragraph  :  — 

"  Besides,  the  undersigned  are  willing  to  confess  that  they 
are  not  ambitious  of  being  the  guardians  of  a  charity  merely 
nominal.  They  are  satisfied  that  the  sum  affixed  by  the 
Legislature  as  the  condition  of  its  grant,  is  so  small,  when 
compared  with  the  wealth  of  individuals  and  the  great- 
ness of  the  State,  that  no  plea  arising  from  '  the  hardship  of 
the  times,'  Hhe  general  embarrassment  of  affiiirs,'  or  'the 
claims  of  other  charities,'  can  or  ought  to  avail  the  com- 
munity. If  such  a  proposal  as  this  fail,  it  will  be,  in  the 
judgment   of  the  undersigned,   decisive  of   the  fate    of   the 


20  SECOND    ADDRESS    OF    TRUSTEES. 

establishment.  It  will  then  be  apparent  that  the  ivill  is 
wanting  in  the  public  to  patronize  such  an  undertaking  ;  and 
that  the  honor  of  laying  the  foundation  of  a  fabric  of  charity 
so  noble  and  majestic  must  be  left  for  times  when  a  higher 
cast  of  character  predominates,  and  to  a  more  enlightened 
and  sympathetic  race  of  men." 

On  May  18,  1814,  a  communication  from  Dr. 
George  Parkman  was  received  as  to  a  Hospital  for 
the  Insane,  proposed  to  be  erected  by  him  for  accom- 
modation of  such  patients  as  shall  be  able  to  pay  their 
own  expenses.  On  Jan.  18,  1815,  the  proposed  sub- 
scriptions were  suspended.  March  10,  1816,  Messrs. 
Quincy,  Tilden,  and  J.  L.  Sullivan  were  appointed  a 
Committee  on  the  subject  of  granting  annuities,  who 
reported  at  the  next  meeting.  On  March  25,  a  Com- 
mittee was  appointed  to  see  if  the  estate  of  Jonathan 
Merry,  near  the  North  Church,  can  be  purchased. 
Messrs.  Quincy  and  J.  L.  Sullivan  were  appointed  a 
Committee  to  draft  a  new  address  to  the  public. 
Colonel  May  was  directed  to  confer  with  Dr.  Bow- 
ditch,  of  Salem,  respecting  annuity  tables,  and  the 
comparative  duration  of  life  in  this  country  and 
Europe,  &c. 

On  April  14,  the  address  was  ordered  to  be  printed 
in  pamphlet  form;  and,  on  April  21,  a  thousand 
copies  of  it  were  directed  to  be  prepared  for  distribu- 
tion. This  second  address  is  also  extant.  It  is  very 
short.     It  refers  to  the  former  one  two  years  before, 


COMMITTEES    FOR    SUBSCRIPTIONS.  21 

and  states,  that,  owing  to  a  modification  in  the  terms 
of  the  gift  of  the  Province  House,  the  Board  is  ready 
to  receive  subscriptions,  independently  of  any  specific 
amount  to  be  raised  within  any  prescribed  period ; 
also  that,  to  meet  the  existing  diversity  of  views,  sub- 
scriptions would  be  received  generally  or  specially  for 
either  department  of  the  proposed  institution,  and  the 
sums  subscribed  be  faithfully  applied  as  requested. 
Appended  to  this  address  are  letters  directed  to 
members  of  the  Board,  detailing  circumstances  show- 
ing the  urgent  need  of  such  an  institution.  The 
Board  resolved  itself,  at  this  last  meeting,  into  Sub- 
committees for  subscriptions :  Colonel  Perkins  and 
Captain  Barnard  to  call  on  all  whose  names  begin 
with  A,  B,  C.  The  remaining  letters  of  the  alpha- 
bet were  distributed  as  follows  :  To  Messrs.  May  and 
Phillips,  D,  E,  F,  G;  Messrs.  Sargent  and  Lowell, 
H  to  L ;  Messrs.  Quincy  and  Lee,  M  to  E. ;  Messrs. 
Tilden  and  J.  L.  Sullivan,  S  to  Z. 

On  April  15,  1816,  authority  was  given  to  buy  the 
Merry  Estate  at  twelve  thousand  dollars.  This  estate 
was  situate  at  corner  of  Salem  and  Charter  Streets, 
and  formerly  belonged  to  Sir  William  Phipps.  It 
was  not  purchased  by  the  Hospital,  but  was  sub- 
sequently (in  1820)  bought  by  the  Boys'  Asylum. 
On  April  28.  a  Committee  was  appointed  to  devise  a 
plan  of  obtaining  contributions  from  all  the  towns  in 


ZZ  DR.    GEORGE    PARKMAN. 

the  Commonwealth,  who,  on  May  5,  reported  an  ad- 
dress to  individuals  resident  in  such  towns  ;  of  which 
six  hundred  copies  were  ordered.  I  have  not  seen 
any  copy  of  this  circular  letter. 

On  Oct.  4,  1816,  a  communication  from  Dr.  George 
Parkman  was  received,  to  the  effect  that  the  Magee 
Place  and  sixteen  acres  of  land  in  Roxbury  can  be 
had  for  sixteen  thousand  dollars.  "  If  the  institution 
will  pay  five  thousand  dollars,  he  will  procure  to  he 
given  to  this  institution  the  remaining  eleven  thou- 
sand.'' This  proposal  was  accepted ;  a  Committee 
appointed  to  complete  the  purchase  ;  and  Dr.  Park- 
man  was  appointed  Superintending  Physician  of  said 
institution,  "  whenever  the  Magee  Place  shall  be  pur- 
chased, as  provided  in  the  preceding  vote."  At  the 
foot  of  the  page  is  the  following  memorandum : 
"  The  Board  subsequently  considered  that  it  was  in- 
expedient to  purchase  the  Magee  Place."  Dr.  Park- 
man,  as  I  learn,  then  had  a  private  institution  for  the 
insane  on  this  estate,  which  is  the  same  since  oc- 
cupied by  the  widow  of  Governor  Eustis.  Of  the 
eleven  thousand  dollars  promised  by  him,  ten  thou- 
sand was  the  amount  agreed  to  be  subscribed  by 
friends  of  the  institution,  who  at  his  solicitation  were 
willing  that  their  intended  donations  should  be  ap- 
plied to  this  purchase.  It  was  not,  as  the  Board 
apparently  supposed,  a  new  donation  of  Dr.  Park- 
man. 


THIRD    ADDRESS    OF    TRUSTEES,  2-3 

Dec.  15,  1816,  Messrs.  Lowell,  Qnincy,  and  Bar- 
nard were  appointed  a  Committee  to  contract  with 
B.  Joy,  Esq.,  for  the  purchase  of  the  Barrell  Place 
(or  Joy  Estate  at  Charlestown),  to  be  ]>aid  for  as 
soon  as  the  state  of  the  funds  shall  admit  of  it.  A 
renewed  attempt  was  also  made  to  get  the  land  west 
of  the  Almshouse  for  a  Hospital.  On  Dec.  17,  the 
Humane  Society  subscribed  five  thousand  dollars  for 
the  Insane  Hospital,  and  a  suitable  vote  of  thanks 
was  passed.  On  Dec.  18,  the  Board  decided  to  pur- 
chase part  of  Mr.  Joy's  land.  Dec.  20,  the  several 
Ward  Committees  for  collecting  subscriptions  were 
appointed,  and  were  requested  to  commence  proceed- 
ings on  the  26th  instant.*  Mr.  Lo\vell  was  appointed 
a  Committee  to  prepare  an  address  to  the  public. 
This  address  is  drawn  up  with  the  characteristic  fer- 

*  The  following  gentlemen  composed  these  Ward  Committees,  viz.  :  — 

Wards  1,  2,  3.  — Dr.  Webster,  Dr.  E.  Eliot,  N.  Webb,  Esq.,  Gedney 
King,  Henry  K.  May. 

Wards  4  and  5.  —  Joseph  Coolidge,  jun.,  Esq.,  William  Mackay,  Edward 
Tuckerman,  jun.,  R.  G.  Shaw,  Lynde  Walter,  John  Osborn,  George  [W.] 
Lyman,  Abraham  Touro. 

Wards  6  and  7. — Thomas  Bartlett,  Esq.,  Daniel  Davis,  Esq.,  Edmund 
Dwight,  Gideon  Snow,  Nathan  Appleton,  Ebenezer  Farley,  E.  Motley,  Geo. 
Sullivan,  James  Prince,  John  Mackay,  Thomas  W.  Sumner. 

Wards  8  and  9.  — Joseph  Tilden,  Esq.,  Joseph  May,  John  Tappan,  Ben- 
jamin Russell,  Josiali  Bradlee,  Francis  Welch,  Israel  Munson,  Samuel  Park- 
man,  jun. 

Ward  10.  —  David  S.  Greenough,  Benjamin  Rich,  George  Trott,  Wil- 
liam Sturgis,  William  Ropes,  Lewis  Tappan. 

Wards  U  and  12.  —  Samuel  May,  Benjamin  tVest,  Joshua  Davis,  Josepli 
Richards,  John  D.  Williams,  William  Brown. 


24 


LIBERAL    SUBSCRIPTIONS. 


vor  of  the  writer.  It  is  a  pamphlet  of  eight  pages. 
It  is  signed  by  eleven  Trustees,  —  all  except  Mr.  Lee, 
who  had  recently  died.  It  shows  that  private  charity 
cannot  meet  the  evils  which  this  public  institution  is 
designed  to  remedy.  It  announces  the  purchase  of 
the  Joy  Estate  as  completed,  of  which  it  remarks  : 
"  The  situation  selected  appears  to  unite  every  prac- 
ticable advantage  ;  we  should  almost  say,  the  irrec- 
oncilable ones  of  propinquity  and  distance,  being 
scarcely  separated  from  the  town  by  water,  while  its 
peninsular  situation  places  it  at  the  most  desirable 
distance."  It  also  adds,  that  the  Trustees  have  "pro- 
cured a  grant  of  land  west  of  the  Almshouse  [on 
Leverett  Street],  upon  which  they  have  voted  to  erect 
the  General  Hospital,  as  soon  as  the  moneys,  which 
they  flatter  themselves  will  be  readily  subscribed, 
shall  have  been  collected." 

On  Dec.  29,  the  Ward  Committees  met  with  the 
Board  of  Trustees,  and  reported  that  in  three  days 
the  siibscri'ptions  were  $78,802.  Committees  for  the 
towns  of  Salem,  Beverly,  New  Bedford,  Plymouth, 
Charlestown,  Mcdford,  Cambridge,  Roxbury,  and 
Newburyport,*    were   also    appointed.     Charles  Bul- 

*  CoMMiTTKE  FOR  Salem.  —  Ilon.  Benjamin  Pickman,  Hon.  Joseph  Story, 
N.  Silsbce,  Joseph  Peabody,  N.  Bowditcli,  Natlianicl  West,  John  Pickering, 
Dudley  L.  Pickman,  Pickering  Dodge,  and  Ezekicl  Savage,  Esqs. 

For  Bkvkuly.  —  Dr.  Fisher,  Hon.  T.  Stevens,  Moses  Brown,  Esq. 

For  Nj:\v  Bedforo.  —  Wm.  llotch,  jun.,  Samuel  Rodman,  Jame8  Arnold 


PURCHASE    OF    ASYLUM   ESTATE.  25 

finch,  Esq.,  was  employed  to  visit  the  Hospitals  of 
Xew  York,  Philadelphia,  and  Baltimore.  Meetings 
now  began  to  be  held  at  the  Athenreum,  having 
before  been  held  at  the  houses  of  the  oificers. 

In  1817,  Ebenezer  Francis  and  David  Sears  be- 
came Trustees,  in  place  of  George  G.  Lee  and  John 
L.  Sullivan.  On  Jan.  5,  the  subscriptions  had  in- 
creased to  $93,969.  Authority  was  given  to  pur- 
chase more  of  Mr.  Joy's  land,  not  exceeding  in  all 
fifteen  acres,  or  to  cost  over  fifteen  thousand  dollars. 
The  Hon.  John  Phillips  was  requested  to  examine 
the  title.  On  Jan.  12,  the  Committee  reported  a 
purchase  from  Mr.  Joy  for  $15,650;  and  the  Board 
approved  of  their  Committee's  act,  though  they  had 
somewhat  exceeded  their  powers ;  and  Mr.  Lowell, 
with   Mr.    Phillips,   was    appointed    a  Committee    to 

Seth  Russell,  jun.,  Joseph  Ricketson,  John  A.  Parker,  And.  Robeson, 
Esqs. 

For  Plymouth.  —  Hon.  Joshua  Thomas,  Wm.  Davis,  Barnabas  Hedge, 
Henry  Warren,  Esqs. 

For  Charlestown.  —  Hon.  Josiah  Bartlett,  Joseph  Hurd,  Nathan  Adams, 
Nathan  Bridge,  Ebenezer  Breed,  William  Austin,  Timothy  Walker,  Samuel 
Jaques,  Seth  Knowles,  Nathaniel  Austin,  Esqs. 

For  Medford.  —  William  Ward,  Abraham  Touro,  Dudley  Hall,  Isaac 
Brooks,  E.  Hall,  Nathaniel  Hall,  Esqs. 

For  Cambridge. — James  Winthrop,  L.  Baldwin,  A.  Bigelow,  S.  Bart- 
lett, S.  P.  P.  Fay,  Tim.  Fuller,  Esqs.,  and  Messrs.  Hayden  and  Merriam. 

For  Roxburt.  —  General  H.  A.  S.  Dearborn,  Thos.  Williams,  W.  Bos- 
son,  Charles  DaA'is,  George  Zeigler,  D.  S.  Greenough,  Esqs.,  and  Captain 
Charles  Curtis. 

For  Neavbdryport.  —  William  Bartlett,  Moses  Brown,  J.  B.  Bannister, 
John  Pettingil,  Abner  Wood,  William  Woart,  Esqs. 

4 


26  COMMITTEE   ON    ANNUITIES. 

procure  the  deed.  Jan.  19,  a  salary  was  given  to 
the  Secretary  of  a  hundred  dollars.  At  the  annual 
meeting  of  the  Corporation,  Jan.  21,  Richard  Sul- 
livan declined  a  re-election  as  Secretary,  and  was 
thanked  for  his  services.  On  Jan.  26,  a  letter  was 
received  from  Hon.  Benjamin  Pickman,  recommend- 
ing a  physician  of  the  Asylum.  Tliis  was  a  most 
important  communication,  as  the  nominee  was  Dr. 
E,ufus  Wyman ;  and,  coming  from  one  of  so  high 
standing,  and  who  had  had  especial  opportunities  of 
learning  Dr.  Wyman's  eminent  qualifications,  it  had 
great  weight.  A  final  vote  of  thanks  to  the  Ward 
Committees  for  their  services  in  obtaining  subscrip- 
tions Avas  passed  at  this  meeting. 

Feb.  2,  1817,  an  address  .to  the  public  was  adopted 
to  obviate  an  impression  that  the  Insane  Hospital 
was  designed  exclusively  for  the  wealthy.  I  have 
not  seen  a  copy  of  this  document.  On  Feb.  16, 
Messrs.  Lowell,  Quincy,  Francis,  and  Barnard,  a 
Committee  of  the  Board,  with  Nathaniel  Bowditch, 
Francis  C.  Lowell,  and  Peter  C.  Brooks,  not  of  the 
Board,  were  requested  to  consider  the  expediency  of, 
and  to  report  a  plan  for  the  granting  of  annuities, 
Feb.  23,  thanks  were  given  to  Mr.  PhiUips  for  his  ser- 
vices in  examining  the  title  of  *the  Joy  Estate.  Public 
notice  was  ordered  that  all  subscriptions  were  payable 
on  March    1.     It  was   also   stated  that  the  Province 


ALLEN-STREET    ESTATE.  27 

House  had  been  leased  at  public  auction  for  ninety- 
nine  years.  March  2,  Messrs.  Lowell,  Barnard,  and 
Quincy  were  appointed  a  Committee  to  select  a  site 
for  a  Hospital  on  the  town's  land  near  Almshouse,  or 
elsewhere.  Mr.  Bulfinch  presented  a  written  report 
on  his  visits  to  other  Hospitals.  March  9,  the  Treas- 
urer was  invited  to  attend  all  the  meetings.  Public 
notice  was  ordered  on  selection  of  superintendent  for 
Asylum.  The  Committee  on  the  subject  of  granting 
annuities  reported  against  the  measure.  On  March 
16,  1817,  the  deed  of  Benjamin  Joy  was  produced, 
and  the  Secretary  ordered  to  buy  a  tin  case  to  keep  it 
in.  It  is  still  extant,  and  used  for  holding  the  title- 
deeds.  Mr.  Bulfinch  presented  a  ground-plan  for  an 
Insane  Hospital.  The  Committee,  on  March  23, 
reported  that  they  had  examined  several  sites,  and 
were  pleased  with  one  in  North  Allen  Street,  and  ar- 
ranged that  the  Board  should  visit  it.  Mr.  Lowell 
reported  the  rules  and  regulations  for  an  Insane 
Asylum.  Dr.  George  Parkman  offered  himself  as 
candidate  for  physician  of  that  institution ;  whose 
communication,  with  a  model  and  several  documents, 
was  placed  on  file.  Charles  Bulfinch  sent  in  a  plan 
for  a  General  Hospital.  March  30,  each  Trustee 
approved  of  the  site  in  Allen  Street.  The  Committee 
were  authorized  to  buy  it  at  not  over  twenty  thou- 
sand dollars,  provided  the  title  be  good,  and  the  street 


28  DRS.    JACKSON    AND    WARREN. 

now  laid  out  through  the  same  be  discontinued.  If 
it  could  not  be  had  on  these  terms,  they  were  to  ap- 
ply for  land  west  of  the  Almshouse.  April  6,  Drs. 
Samuel  Danforth,  Isaac  Rand,  John  Jeffries,  Lemuel 
Hayward,  David  Townsend,  Thos.  Welsh,  Aaron 
Dexter,  and  Wni.  Spooner,  were  chosen  consulting 
physicians  ;  Dr.  James  Jackson,  acting  physician  ;  Dr. 
John  C.  Warren,  acting  surgeon.  Dr.  Jackson,  in 
the  office  of  consulting  physician,  continues  to  mani- 
fest an  undiminished  interest  in  the  prosperity  of  the 
institution.  Dr.  Warren,  after  thirty-four  years,  yet 
holds  his  office.  He  bears  lightly  the  age  of  more 
than  "  three-score  and  ten,"  and,  like  England's  "  Iron 
Duke,"  is  still  at  his  post  of  duty  and  of  honor.* 

April  20,  1817,  Messrs.  Lowell,  Francis,  and 
Quincy  were  instructed  to  prepare  alterations  and 
additions  to  the  by-laws.  A  letter  from  Hon.  Wil- 
liam Phillips  announced  his  readiness  to  pay  his  sub- 
scription of  twenty  thousand  dollars,  as  soon  as  the 
town  would  discharge  him,  as  executor  of  his  father's 
will,  from  the  five  thousand  dollars  given  thereby. 
On  May  4,  the  Committee  for  building  an  Asylum  re- 
ported in  favor  of  two  wings  or  buildings,  seventy-six 
feet  by  forty,  three  stories  high  instead  of  one,  and  of 
brick  instead  of  stone.      Authority  was  given  to  buy 

*  The  year  1852  brought  to  a  close  tlie  life  of  tlie  Duke  of  Wellington 
and  the  oflScial  labors  of  Dr.  Warren. 


^^ 


ws-wm' 


-i  ' 


■s*r,' 


HOSPITAL    LOT.  29 

the  Allen-street  Estate  at  twenty  thousand  dollars,  if 
the  offer  should  be  accepted  in  six  days.  On  May  7, 
a  Corporation  meeting  was  held,  at  which  rules  and 
regulations  were  adopted  for  the  Asylum  for  the 
Insane,  which,  as  recorded,  occupy  ten  large  folio 
pages.  At  a  Trustees'  meeting,  June  12,  a  letter 
from  Mr.  Quincy  was  received,  with  a  written  report 
from  Benjamin  Gorham,  Esq.,  as  to  an  uncertainty  or 
defect  in  the  title ;  and  he  was  authorized  to  consult 
Hon.  William  Prescott.  July  14,  Messrs.  Francis 
and  Sears  were  added  to  this  Committee  with  instruc- 
tions ;  and,  on  Aug.  4,  they  were  requested  to  apply 
to  the  city  of  Boston  to  close  any  streets  which  may 
pass  through  the  land.  Aug.  25,  the  Committee 
reported  that  they  were  informed  that  the  street  had 
not  been  legally  laid  out,  and  could  be  closed  at  any 
time ;  and  they  were  authorized  to  buy  the  estate  at 
a  price  not  exceeding  twenty-three  thousand  dollars. 
On  Oct.  6,  after  various  delays  and  negotiations,  the 
Committee  reported  "  the  Allen-street  purchase  as 
substantially  complete."  Oct.  27,  a  Committee  was 
appointed  to  apply  to  the  selectmen  to  discontinue 
Bridge  Street,  laid  out  through  this  estate.  Nov.  3, 
the  Committee  reported  the  draft  of  an  advertisement, 
offering  a  hundred  dollars'  reward  for  a  plan  of  a 
Hospital ;  also  a  circular  letter  to  all  the  ministers  of 
the  gospel  in  the  Commonwealth. 


30  COMMON    SEAL.  LIBERAL    SUBSCRIPTIONS. 

Nov.  '24,  a  common  seal  was  ordered  to  be  pre- 
pared ;  and,  on  Nov.  30,  Colonel  May  laid  it  before 
the  Board,  —  the  device  being  an  Indian  with  his 
bow  in  one  hand,  and  an  arrow  in  the  other ;  *  and 
on  his  right  a  star,  being  encircled  with  the  inscrip- 
tion, "Massachusetts  General  Hospital,  1811;" 
and  it  was  accepted  accordingly.  Dec.  7,  it  was 
ordered  that  the  Hospital  be  "  of  stone,  and  of  that 
kind  called  granite^  Jan.  4,  1818,  several  plans 
were  received  by  the  Board;  and,  on  Jan.  11, 
referred  to  Messrs.  Lowell,  Quincy,  and   Francis. 

The  result  of  this  period,  then,  was  that  subscrip- 
tions were  secured  to  the  amount  required  by  the 
condition  of  the  charter,  and  the  estates  were  pur- 
chased where  the  two  departments  of  the  institution 
are  now  situated.  The  subscriptions  had  been  ex- 
tremely generous.  William  Phillips,  as  we  have 
seen,  increased  his  father's  legacy  of  five  thousand 
dollars  to  the  sum  of  twenty  thousand. f  The  impor- 
tance of  this  donation  can  hardly  be  over-estimated. 
It  encouraged  the  friends  of  the  project,  and  awak- 
ened a  corresponding  liberality  in  others.  It  is  not 
too  much  to  say,  that  it  was  the  one  circumstance 
which  insured  the  success  of  the  undertaking.     The 

*  Tliis  is  the  device  of  the  seal  of  the  Commonwealth. 

t  At  the  annual  meeting  of  1852,  Dr.  J.  C.  Warren  mentioned  that  his 
father,  Dr.  John  Warren,  had  written  to  Mr.  Phillips  on  this  subject,  and  had 
been  consulted  by  Dr.  James  Jackson  and  himself,  touching  their  circular 
letter  of  1810. 


CONDITION    IN    MR.    JOY's    DEED.  31 

Humane  Society  gave  five  thousand  dollars  ;  Messrs. 
James  Perkins,  Thomas  H.  Perkins,  and  David  Sears, 
each  gave  the  same  sum. 

There  were  in  all  one  thousand  and  forty-seven 
subscribers,  residing  in  Boston,  Salem,  Plymouth, 
Charlestown,  Hingham,  and  Chelsea  (including  a  few 
residents  elsewhere) ;  and  245  of  this  number,  by 
giving  one  hundred  dollars  and  upwards,  became 
members  of  the  Corporation.  Several  subscribed  ex- 
clusively for  the  Hospital,  and  several  exclusively  for 
the  Asylum,  and  some  for  both ;  and  the  amount 
actually  expended  on  each  separate  branch  of  the 
institution  subsequently  exceeded  the  sum  thus  spe- 
cially appropriated  ;  so  that  the  wishes  of  each  donor 
have  been  complied  with.  A  donation-book,  prepared 
in  1828  by  Colonel  Joseph  May,  includes  these  sub- 
scriptions, and  some  subsequent  ones,  making  in  all 
the  truly  magnificent  total  of  more  than  a  hundred 
and  forty  thousand  dollars. 

The  purchase  of  the  Charlestown  Estate  was  en- 
cumbered with  divers  conditions  and  provisions,  a 
strict  compliance  with  which  is.  of  the  utmost  impor- 
tance. It  is  to  be  regretted  that  Mr.  Joy  should  have 
deemed  it  necessary,  for  the  adequate  protection  of  his 
remaining  adjoining  estate,  to  impose  these  restric- 
tions ;  and  it  is  unfortunate  that  the  Committee  should 
have  accepted  a  deed  with  a  condition  cajxible  of  work- 


32  BUILDINGS    AT    THE    ASYLUM. 

ing^  in  any  possible  events  a  forfeiture  of  the  estate. 
The  lot  is  about  five  hundred  feet  wide  by  sixteen 
hundred  feet  in  length,  extending  to  the  water,  with 
the  flats  appurtenant.  Upon  it  stood  a  dwelling- 
house,  built  by  Joseph  Barrell,  Esq.,  a  former  owner, 
and  which  has  been  since  enlarged  and  altered,  and 
is  now  used  as  the  residence  for  the  Physicians  and 
the  Superintendent  and  their  families.  The  two  brick 
wings  at  first  erected  have  since  been  enlarged  by 
additions  of  the  parts  surmounted  by  domes,  and 
constitute  the  present  buildings  used  for  the  male  and 
the  female  patients.  The  Building  Committee,  during 
this  period,  devoted  much  time  and  attention  to  the 
erection  of  these  first  edifices  ;  Mr.  Francis  visited  the 
Hospitals  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  It  was 
thouirht  desirable  that  they  should  each  communicate 
with  the  dwelling-house,  and  also  that  they  should 
be  as  distant  from  each  other  as  possible.  They  are 
therefore  placed  at  diverging  lines,  which  rendered 
the  subsequent  addition  of  the  parts  surmounted  by 
domes  extremely  awkward ;  it  being  found  impossible 
to  continue  them  in  the  same  direction,  without  in- 
terfering with  the  mansion-house.  Mr.  Barrell  had 
planted  two  fine  rows  of  elms,  ranging  from  his 
mansion-house  in  the  direction  of  the  old  wards.  All 
of  them  were  subsequently  cut  down  at  the  suggestion 
of  Dr.  AVvman.     It  was  once  remarked  in  my  hear- 


DEFECT    OF    TITLE    OF    HOSPITAL   LOT.  33 

ing,  that  the  buildings  were  erected  to  accommodate 
the  trees,  and  then  the  trees  cut  down  to  accommo- 
date the  buildings.  The  ground  falls  off  so  rapidly 
that  these  wards  are  entered  at  the  second  story ;  and 
there  are  in  them  so  many  dark  passages,  so  many 
ascents  and  descents,  and  so  many  turnings  and 
twistings,  that,  should  the  oldest  Trustee  of  the  insti- 
tution be  suddenly  left  alone  during  a  visit,  he  would 
probably  be  puzzled  to  know  exactly  where  he  was, 
or  by  what  means  he  could  best  escape  from  the 
labyrinth  around  him. 

The  purchase  of  the  land  in  Boston  had  been 
attended  with  great  difficulties,  and  was  a  most  for- 
tunate arrangement  for  the  institution.  The  five 
thousand  dollars  bequeathed  by  Mr.  Phillips  re- 
quired that  the  Hospital  should  be  within  the  limits 
of  Boston,  and  wcflild  have  been  unavailable  if  the 
original  requirement  of  the  charter  in  that  respect 
had  not  been  repealed.  Negotiations  for  the  purchase 
of  this  estate  were  opened  with  James  S.  Colburn, 
Esq.,  acting  for  the  Prince  heirs,  who  were  supposed 
to  be  sole  owners ;  and  he  once  or  twice  increased  the 
price  which  he  had  originally  demanded.  It  was  then 
ascertained  that  certain  others  (heirs  of  the  Wells 
family)  had  an  interest  which  must  be  extinguished. 
A  street  which  had  been  laid  out  for  the  benefit  of  the 
Canal  Bridge,  in  continuation  of  Bridge  Street,  and 

5 


34  DEFECT    OF    TITLE    OF    HOSPITAL    LOT. 

respecting  the  laying  out  of  which  some  informality 
had  been  discovered,  was  shut  up.  And  still  there 
remained  a  serious  objection,  that  part  of  the  land 
had  been  set  off  on  execution  in  1781,  on  a  judgment 
for  £741,  against  one  Hezekiah  Blanchard  ;  the  sher- 
iff making  a  general  return,  that  the  appraisers  were 
appointed  according  to  law^  instead  of  stating  specially 
which  of  them  was  chosen  by  the  creditor,  debtor, 
and  sheriff  respectively.  The  land  was  appraised  at 
only  about  half  of  the  debt  (£430).  The  debtor  was 
for  years  afterwards  supported  by  the  creditor,  and 
died  a  pauper,  and  was  buried  at  his  expense.  Strong 
as  was  the  equity  of  the  case,  the  legal  title  of  this  lot 
(making  an  important  part  of  the  estate)  was  bad. 
Mr.  Lowell,  an  excellent  lawyer,  and  a  most  influen- 
tial member  of  the  Committee,  was  opposed  to  com- 
pleting the  purchase  on  the  ground  of  this  objection. 
Messrs.  Francis,  Quincy,  and  others  of  the  Com- 
mittee, were  willing  to  take  the  risk.  Mr.  Lowell  left 
for  Europe,  and  his  colleagues  decided  to  buy.  It  is 
an  interesting  circumstance,  that,  just  before  the  end 
of  the  forty  years  allowed  by  law,  Charles  G.  Loring, 
Esq.,  was  employed  to  institute  a  suit  for  Benjamin 
Gray  and  his  sister,  as  the  heirs  of  the  old  owner ; 
which  was  favorably  compromised,  in  part  doubt- 
less through  Mr.  Loring's  good  offices;  the  Hospital 
paying  five  hundred  dollars,  and  an  intervening  war- 


ITS    INCREASED    VALUE.  35 

rantor  paying  five  hundred  more.  This  same  demand- 
ant subsequently  recovered  an  estate  in  Atkinson 
Street  for  breach  of  condition,  under  circumstances  so 
inequitable,  that  the  suit,  as  reported  in  the  books 
(Gray  v.  Blanchard),  is  known  as  the  atrocious  case  ; 
and  the  Court  avowed  that  they  intentionally  post- 
poned giving  their  opinion,  in  hopes  that  the  delay 
would  have  led  to  a  compromise.  Mr.  Gray  knew  no 
higher  standard  of  right  or  of  duty  than  "  the  statute 
in  such  case  made  and  provided."  He  at  first  refused 
to  accept  the  Hospital's  offer  of  one  thousand  dollars. 
The  case  was  opened  to  the  jury ;  and  Benjamin 
Gorham,  Esq.,  counsel  for  the  Hospital,  began  to  ex- 
hibit him  in  so  unenviable  a  light,  that  he  intimated 
his  readiness  to  take  the  sum  offered.  The  case  was 
thereupon  withdrawn  from  the  jury.  But  for  this 
arrangement,  the  Hospital  would  have  been  put  to 
great  inconvenience,  if  not  loss.  This  possible  con- 
sequence certainly  goes  far  to  justify  Mr.  Lowell's 
objections,  while  the  actual  result  fully  warrants  the 
decision  of  his  associates. 

This  estate,  independently  of  improvements,  is  now 
probably  worth  at  least  about  three  hundred  thousand 
dollars.     It  cost  less  than  a  twelfth  of  that  sum. 


36 


CHAPTER    III. 

1818-1822. 

Thomas  H.  Perkins,  Chairman. — Dr.  Rufds  Wtman  chosen  Physician 
OF  Asylum. — Corner-stone  of  Hospital  laid,  July  4,  1818.  —  Ad- 
dresses ON  the  Occasion.  —  Tax  on  Licenses  asked  for.  —  Colonel 
May,  Chairman.  —  Address  by  Richard  Sullivan,  1819.  —  Capu- 
chin Chapel.  —  Death  of  James  Prince,  Treasurer.  —  Election 
and  Death  of  William  Cochran.  —  Election  of  N.  P.  Russell. — 
Death  of  James  Perkins,  Vice-President.  —  Tolls  on  Canal 
Bridge.  —  Nathaniel  Fletcher,  Superintendent  of  Hospital. — 
First  Patient,  Sept.  3,  1821.  —  Bequests  op  Thomas  Oliver, 
Samuel  Eliot,  Beza  Tucker,  &c.  —  Donation  of  Horace  Gray, 
&c.  —  Address  to  Public,  1822.  —  State  of  Finances,  &c. 

In  1818,  the  same  Board  of  Trustees  were  re-elected; 
and  at  their  first  meeting,  Jan.  25,  Thomas  H.  Per- 
kins was  chosen  Chairman.  The  Committee  reported 
that  the  plan  of  a  Hospital  by  Mr.  Bulfinch  deserved 
the  premium ;  and  the  President  and  Vice-President 
were  asked  to  attend  at  the  next  meeting,  and  give 
their  advice  as  to  the  erecting  at  present  a  centre 
building  and  one  wing,  Messrs.  William  Phillips 
and  James  Perkins  attended  accordingly,  Jan.  28,  and 
signified  their  approval  of  this  measure.  On  Feb.  1, 
Mr.  Bulfinch's  plan  (with  slight  modifications  sug- 
gested by  the  Committee)  was  adopted,  and  immediate 
measures  were  directed  for  getting  stone  hammered 
at  the  State  Prison.     A  Committee  was  appointed  to 


DR.    RUFUS    WYMAN.  37 

inquire  as  to  insurance  on  the  Asylum  buildings,  and 
also  as  to  the  powers  of  granting  annuities.  The 
Committee  on  this  last  subject  reported  on  Feb.  15. 
Messrs.  Lowell  and  Francis  were  appointed,  March  1, 
to  engage  a  person  to  superintend  the  erection  of  the 
Hospital.  March  3,  the  Building  Committee  at  the 
Asylum  was  ordered  to  have  a  foot-bridge  constructed 
over  the  creek,  in  place  of  one  recently  destroyed  by 
ice.  Insurance  against  tire  was  ordered  to  the  amount 
of  ten  thousand  dollars.  March  15,  the  Board  decided 
that  it  is  expedient  to  unite  in  one  person  the  offices 
of  Physician  and  Superintendent  of  the  Asylum. 
March  22,  it  appeared  that  the  Physicians  and  Sur- 
geons of  the  Hospital  recommended  Dr.  Rufus  Wy- 
man  (Dr.  George  Parkman  having  withdrawn  his 
application  for  that  office) ;  and  he  was  nominated 
accordingly.  Mr.  Francis  was  appointed  a  Committee 
for  erecting  a  wharf  at  the  Hospital  grounds.  On 
March  23,  Dr.  Wyman  was  unanimously  elected,  and 
was  authorized  to  visit  New  York  and  Philadelphia. 
March  29,  the  heirs  of  Hezekiah  Blanchard  made 
their  claim  for  part  of  the  Hospital  land.  On  June  2, 
Dr.  Wyman,  having  returned  from  his  tour,  made 
a  verbal  report.  Messrs.  Francis  and  Lowell,  and 
the  Treasurer,  were  appointed  the  Building  Commit- 
tee of  the  Hospital. 

On  July   1,  the  Treasurer,  and  Messrs.  May  and 


38  CORNER-STONE    OF    HOSPITAL    LAID. 

Francis,  were  appointed  a  Committee  to  cause  the 
corner-stone  of  the  Hospital  to  be  laid  on  July  4  ;  and 
Mr.  Quincy  was  requested  to  deliver  the  address  on 
that  occasion. 

"  On  Saturday,  the  4th  day  of  July,  the  corner-stone 
of  the  Hospital  in  North  Allen  Street,  in  pursuance  of 
the  vote  of  the  Trustees,  was  laid  in  Masonic  form  by 
the  Grand  Lodge  of  Massachusetts,  in  presence  of  his 
Excellency  the  Governor,  his  Honor  the  Lieutenant- 
Governor,  the  Honorable  Council,  many  charitable 
societies,  the  Selectmen  and  Board  of  Health  of  the 
town  of  Boston,  the  members  of  the  Corporation  of 
the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital,  and  a  great 
concourse  of  citizens,  who  assembled  to  witness  the 
ceremony. 

"  Under  the  stone  was  placed,  in  addition  to  a  num- 
ber of  coins,  a  silver  plate  or  tablet,  whereon  was 
engraved  the  following  inscription  :  — 

"  3Cf)c  CTorncv^stoiu  of  t\]is  EUtficc, 

DESIGNED    AS    A    GENERAL     HOSPITAL,    POUNDED     BY    THE     MUNIFICENCE     OP    THE 

COMMONWEALTH    OP    MASSACHUSETTS,    AND    OP    MANY    OP     ITS    LIBERAL 

CITIZENS,    WAS    LAID    AT    THE    REQUEST    OP    THE    TRUSTEES 

OP    THE    MASSACHUSETTS    GENERAL    HOSPITAL, 

BY    THE    GRAND    LODGE    OP 

MASSACHUSETTS, 

FRANCIS  J.  OLIVER,  Esq.,  Grand  Master. 
Hi«  Excellency  JOHN  BKOOKS,  Governor. 

His  Honor  WILLIAM  PHILLIPS,  Lieut.-Govcrnor,  President  of  said  Corporation,  and  a  most 

munificent  donor. 

The  Municipal  and  Military  Officers  of  Boston  assisting  at  the  Ceremonies ; 

Tnm    FOURTH   DAY   OP  JULY,   A.D.   MDCCCXVIII.    AND  OP  THE  INDEPENDENCR 

OP  THE  UNITED   STATES,   XLIII. 

Akno   Lucis,  .5818." 


MR.   OLIVERS    ADDRESS.  39 

The  addresses  of  Mr.  Oliver  and  Mr.  Quincy  were 
in  every  respect  eminently  appropriate  to  the  occa- 
sion. That  of  the  Grand  Master,  Mr.  Oliver,  was  as 
follows :  — 

"  In  your  hands  [the  Master-Builder]  I  now  place  these 
tools  of  your  profession,  and  commit  to  your  care  the  super- 
intendence in  erecting  this  edifice,  whose  foundation  is  now 
laid  in  the  land  of  our  fathers,  in  presence  of  sages  and 
philanthropists,  with  their  fervent  prayers  for  a  blessing  on 
the  work.  Be  cautious  in  selecting  your  materials,  and  use 
all  your  skill  in  putting  them  together,  that  your  workman- 
ship may  endure  like  that  of  faithfulness  and  truth  ;  for 
this  building  is  not  to  be  a  temporary  pavilion  for  the  dis- 
play of  opulence,  splendor,  and  pride,  but  a  temple  dedi- 
cated to  humanity,  a  lazar-house  built  by  enlightened 
Compassion,  where  Charity  and  Philosophy  are  to  walk 
a  perpetual  round  to  alleviate  miseiy,  and  to  combat  with 
and  destroy  disease  and  pain. 

"  To  secure  your  constant  attention  and  highest  exertions 
in  this  undertaking,  you  must  keep  in  mind  the  noble  purposes 
to  which  it  is  to  be  appropriated.  It  will  be  a  testimonial  of 
the  liberality  of  this  Commonwealth  and  the  munificence 
of  opulent  individuals,  —  a  sort  of  mile-stone  on  the  journey 
of  civilization,  to  show  how  far  the  Christian  spirit  had 
advanced  in  this  age,  in  ameliorating  the  condition  of  man.   , 

"  The  golden  age,  when  men  were  happy  and  free  from 
crime,  lives  only  in  fable  ;  but  a  religious  and  humane  age, 
amidst  crime  and  wretchedness,  shall  be  matter  of  sober 
history. 

"  If  he  who  gives  a  cup  of  cold  water  to  the  thirsty,  with 
a  charitable  disposition,  has  already  the  promises  of  the  gos- 
pel, how  great  will  be  the   reward  of  those  generous  souls 


40  master-builder's  reply. 

who  create  a  perennial  flow  of  all  tlie  healing  balms  and 
cordials  tliat  touch  the  lips  or  bathe  tlie  limbs  of  decrepitude 
and  sickness. 

"  As  this  institution  will  long  exist  a  proof  of  the  liberality 
of  feeling  and  purity  of  sentiment  of  the  people  of  this  day, 
and  an  example  for  future  times,  go  on.  Sir,  and  erect  this 
building  with  taste,  science,  and  fidelity,  that  it  may  be  a 
model  for  the  architects  of  a  distant  period  ;  so  that  future 
master-builders  may  come  and  admire  your  work  for  its 
strengtli,  beauty,  and  durability. 

"  If  you  commence  your  work  in  hope,  and  perform  it  with 
assiduity,  prosperity  will  attend,  and  self-satisfaction,  with  the 
applauses  of  the  wise  and  good,  will  crown  your  toils.  Yours 
is  no  small  or  trifling  trust ;  do  your  duty  in  this,  and  in  all 
your  hands  find  to  do,  in  such  a  manner  that  the  great 
Architect  of  time  and  eternity  will  number  you  among  his 
master  workmen  who  have  happily  toiled  for  the  bread  of 
life." 

To  which  the  master-builder  replied :  — 

"  Most  Wohshipful  Sir, 

"  I  accept  these  tools  of  my  profession  with  diffidence  but 
pleasure  ;  and  I  promise  to  use  my  best  endeavors  to  follow 
your  advice  and  remember  your  instructions.  The  recollection 
of  the  importance  of  tliis  institution,  and  the  desire  I  feel  to 
obtain  the  approbation  of  its  patrons,  will,  I  trust,  stimulate 
me  in  the  discharge  of  my  duties.  Whatever  science  or  skill 
I  possess  shall  be  sedulously  devoted  to  this  work.  As  the 
corner-stone  of  the  edifice  is  now  laid  in  the  full  faith  of  the 
great  advantages  which  are  to  flow  from  this  institution,  and 
with  all  holy  and  proper  rites,  it  shall  now  be  my  earnest 
desire  and  constant  exertion,  that  industry,  harmony,  and 
good  fellowship  shall  prevail  among  the  craftsmen,  that  the 


MR.  quincy's  address.  41 

work  shall  proceed  with  despatch,  and  be  finished  in  good 
time  for  the  reception  of  such  as  it  is  intended  to  accommodate. 
"The  belief  that  the  o-ood  feelino^s  and  wishes  of  the 
pious  and  benevolent  are  with  me  in  this  undertakins;  will 
strengthen  my  hands  and  encourage  my  heart,  for  the  prayer 
of  the  righteous  avaUeth  Qunch." 

The  address  of  Mr.  Qiiincy  was  as  follows :  — 

"  May  it  please  your  Excellency  ;  —  Gentlemen  of  the 
Masonic,  Gentlemen  of  the  Mechanic,  Associations ;  — 
Fellow-citizens  :  —  I  am  requested  by  the  Trustees  of  the 
Massachusetts  General  Hospital  to  express  to  you,  Sir, — 
to  the  officers  and  members  of  these  respectable  frater- 
nities,—  and  to  our  fellow-citizens  in  general,  their  con- 
gratulations on  this  interesting  occasion.  You  and  they 
will  be  pleased  to  accept  tlie  thanks  of  the  Trustees  for  the 
countenance  and  aid  you  have  given  this  institution,  by 
thus  condescending  to  assist  in  laying  its  foundations, 
according  to  the  rules  of  art,  and  with  those  solemn  and 
mysterious  forms  and  ceremonies  which  ancient  wisdom 
has   prescribed. 

"Indeed,  Sir  and  Gentlemen,  the  foundations  of  a  noble 
charity  have  this  day  been  laid  ;  —  a  charity,  destined  to 
confer  lasting  blessings  on  future  times,  as  it  has  already 
conferred  immortal  honor  on  the  present;  —  a  charity,  of 
Avhich  it  Avell  becomes  a  citizen  of  Massachusetts  to  speak 
in  the  language  of  pride  and  exultation.  For  of  what  can 
the  patriot  be  more  justly  proud  than  of  witnessing  in  a 
community  virtuous  principles,  emanating  in  generous  ef- 
forts, and  generous  efforts  crowned  with  resplendent  suc- 
cess ?  When  can  exultation  be  more  natural  or  suitable 
than  on  beholding  the  seed,  which  the  common  labor  of 
the    community    has    scattered,   upspringing   from    the    soil, 

6 


42  MR.  quinct's  address. 

bearing  on  its  trunk  and  on  its  branches  the  pregnant  prom- 
ise of  fruit  and  shade  ? 

"In  reference  to  this  institution,  it  has  been  the  happiness 
of  the  Trustees  to  witness  among  their  fellow-citizens  a 
zeal  co-operating  with  its  design  and  patronizing  its  estab- 
lishment, as  laudable  as  it  has  been  exemplary,  and  not 
less  encouraging  than  it  has  been  honorable.  They  have 
seen  individuals  distinguished  at  once  for  wealth  and  liber- 
ality, surpassing  all  former  records  of  benevolence  in  this 
country,  and  subscribing  to  their  funds  sums  which  in 
point  of  amount  have  seldom  been  equalled  by  individual 
subscription  in  any  country,  on  any  occasion.  They  liave 
seen  all  classes  of  their  citizens  combining  and  concentrat- 
ing their  efforts,  and  the  irresistible  force  of  public  opinion 
applied,  not,  as  has  happened  in  other  countries,  to  destroy, 
but  to  found  and  erect  institutions  destined  to  be  the  refuge 
of  the  afflicted  ;  and  to  provide  relief  and  extend  protection 
to  those  who  labor  under  the  most  awful  and  humiliating 
misfortunes   to   which   man   is   subject. 

"These  are  efforts,  of  which  he  who  loves  his  country 
may  justly  be  proud.  These  are  objects  which  the  eye  of 
the  philanthropist  delights  to  contemplate.  These  are 
scenes,  amid  which  virtue  and  piety  rejoice  to  dwell. 
These  are  honors  which  eloquence  and  history  will  not 
cease  to  celebrate,  long  after  every  other  memorial  of  the 
present  generation  shall  have  passed  away. 

"  But,  may  it  please  your  Excellency,  it  ought  not  to  be 
concealed  on  the  present  occasion,  that,  notwithstanding 
the  donations  on  which  this  charity  has  been  founded  are 
great,  yet  that  the  necessities  of  the  unfortunate  and  of  this 
institution  are  still  o-reater.  It  belonos  to  the  occasion  to 
state,  that  the  funds  already  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the 
Trustees  will  scarcely  more    than  suffice  to  enable  them  to 


MR.  quincy's  address.  43 

complete  the  Asylum  for  the  Insane,  and  also  two  principal 
parts  of  the  building  destined  for  the  General  Hospital ; 
leaving  it  to  the  sympathy  of  the  Legislature  and  of  the 
community  to  provide  for  the  completion  of  the  remaining 
third  part  of  the  building,  and  for  the  annual  support  of  the 
establishment. 

"Encouraged  by  the  liberality  and  favor  already  displayed 
by  their  fellow-citizens  and  by  the  Legislature  of  the  Com- 
monwealth, and  anxious,  on  their  part,  to  fulfil  the  duties 
imposed  on  them  in  the  spirit  which  the  munificence  of  the 
public  seemed  to  justify  and  to  demand,  the  Trustees  have 
deemed  themselves  compelled  to  commence  their  institution 
upon  a  scale  and  on  a  system  coinciding  less  with  the 
immediate  state  of  the  funds,  than  with  the  anticipated 
exigencies  of  society ;  assured  that  the  liberality  of  the 
State  and  of  individuals  will  not  fail  to  complete  an  under- 
taking commenced  under  such  honorable  and  happy  aus- 
pices ;  relying  that  every  want  which  shall  occur  will  be 
supplied  as  well  from  the  interesting  and  commanding 
nature  of  all  the  charities  concentrated  in  their  institution, 
as  from  the  just  and  deep  sympathies  for  its  success  which 
prevail  in  the  community. 

"To  that  sympathy,  to  the  same  noble  and  elevated 
sentiment,  to  which  we  are  indebted  for  its  conception,  and, 
thus  far,  for  its  establishment,  we  confidently  rely  for  its 
future  support. 

"To  you,  Sir,  as  the  head  and  representative  of  this  great 
Commonwealth,  —  to  our  fellow-citizens  at  large,  —  to  all 
the  wise,  the  liberal,  the  virtuous,  and  pious  men  of  our 
country,  we  cheerfully  commit  its  destinies  ;  asking  only  of 
them,  and  of  the  Legislature  of  the  Commonwealth,  that 
the  same  munificent  spirit  which  founded,  may  still  preside 
over  it,  that  it  may  thus  be  enabled  to  develop  all  its  use- 


44  TREASURER    PRINCE's    REMARKS. 

fulness,  and  continue  to  be,  what  it  now  is,  a  monument 
of  the  wisdom,  the  liberaHty,  and  humanity  of  the  rulers 
and  citizens  of  Massachusetts." 

The  ceremonies  were  concluded  by  the  following 
remarks  from  James  Prince,  Esq.,  the  Treasurer  of 
the  institution  :  — 

"Fellow-citizens,  —  The  purposes  for  which  we  have 
assembled  being  accomplished,  the  moment  of  our  sepa- 
ration from  this  now  interesting-  spot  has  arrived.  Let  us, 
however,  under  those  impressions  which  the  occasion  so 
forcibly  inspires,  in  retiring,  turn  our  thoughts  from  earth 
to  heaven,  and  again  implore  the  God  and  Father  of  all 
graciously  to  permit  the  top-stone  of  this  intended  edifice 
to  be  laid  in  love,  in  order,  and  without  accident,  as  at 
this  beoinnino; ;  and  to  bestow  the  choicest  of  his  blessinfjs 
upon  all  those  who  have  been,  or  who  hereafter  may  be, 
donors  to  this  humane  establishment,  not  only  in  this 
world,   but   in   that  which  is   to   come.     Amen." 

His  Excellency,  the  Trustees,  and  other  invited 
guests,  then  proceeded  to  the  house  of  the  Treasurer, 
Mr.  Prince,  and  partook  of  a  collation.  The  attend- 
ance was  very  numerous.  Those  who  could  not  get 
into  the  house  were  accommodated  in  the  garden.  It 
was  a  scene  of  joyous  festivity.  "  It  was  a  great  day," 
said  one  who  was  present,  "  for  Marshal  Prince,"  as 
it  certainly  was  for  the  institution.  Like  the  Union, 
with  whose  birthday  its  foundation  is  thus  associated, 
may  its  benefits  be  ever  more  and  more  widely  felt ; 


THOMAS    OLIVERS    BEQUEST.  45 

and  may  it  continue  to  the  latest  times  to  afford  its 
protection,  and  extend  its  welcome  alike  to  the  citizen 
and  to  the  stranger  who  cometh  among  us  ! 

On  July  3,  IS  18,  Joseph  Head,  Esq.,  one  of  the 
executors  of  Thomas  Oliver,  of  Boston,  merchant, 
announced  that  he  had  made  this  institution  his 
residuary  devisee.  This  bequest  was  gratefully  ac- 
cepted by  the  Trustees ;  and  Messrs.  Lowell  and 
Francis  were  appointed  a  Committee  on  the  subject. 

This  legacy  exceeded  twenty-four  thousand  dollars. 
A  portrait  of  Mr.  Oliver  was  subsequently  given, 
which  was  placed  in  the  Trustees'  room  at  the  Hos- 
pital. The  institution  is  especially  indebted  to  Mr. 
Head  for  this  bequest,  as  the  testator  wished  to 
bestow  his  property  on  him  and  his  family  ;  and  it 
was  solely  in  consequence  of  his  truly  disinterested 
advice,  that  Mr.  Oliver  made  the  Hospital  the  object 
of  his  bounty,  after  his  wife's  decease.  The  widow 
married  again,  and  lived  till  July,  18-35,  enjoying  till 
her  death  the  income  or  interest  of  the  estate.  The 
Hospital  received  the  property  in  1826,  and  paid  her 
from  that  time  an  annuity  of  thirteen  hundred  dollars. 

On  July  13,  thanks  were  voted  to  the  Grand  Lodge 
of  Massachusetts  for  their  assistance  at  the  ceremonies 
of  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone.  Sept.  1,  Mr.  Francis 
was  appointed  a  Committee  to  advise  with  the  Treas- 
urer  respecting  the  disposal  of  the  funds.     Detailed 


46  FIRST    PATIENT    AT    THE    ASYLUM. 

rules  were  adopted  for  admission  of  patients  at  the 
Asylum,  and  ordered  to  be  printed.  On  Sept.  8,  fur- 
ther rules  and  regulations  for  the  general  government 
of  tlie  Asylum  were  adopted.  The  Committee  on  Mr. 
Oliver's  bequest  reported  that  his  widow  is  to  have 
all  the  property,  real  and  personal,  for  life  ;  and  con- 
sented to  the  immediate  sale  of  land  in  Middle  Street 
and  Prince  Street  devised  by  him.  On  Sept.  15,  1818, 
Visiting  Committees  were  arranged,  each  to  be  of 
three  members,  and  to  serve  for  three  months ; 
Messrs.  Sullivan,  Sargent,  and  Francis  being  the 
Committee  for  the  next  ensuing  months  of  October, 
November,  and  December.  Sept.  19,  the  Treasurer 
was  authorized  to  borrow  ten  thousand  dollars.  Oct. 
27,  he  was  ordered,  on  account  of  the  straitened 
means  of  the  institution,  to  call  in  all  debts  due  for 
subscriptions  or  otherwise.  Nov.  15,  the  Visiting 
Committee  were  directed  to  hasten  the  delivery  of 
the  stone  from  State  Prison,  "  that  the  roof  of  the 
Hospital  may  be  covered  in  as  soon  as  possible." 

Nov.  23,  the  Visiting  Committee  report  nine  pa- 
tients received  at  Asylum.  Mr.  Francis  states  that 
he  well  remembers  the  admission  of  the  first  patient. 
A  father  asked  to  have  his  son  received  as  an  inmate  ; 
and  the  Committee  spent  three  hours  in  conversing 
with  him,  in  order  to  learn  all  the  particulars  of  the 

* 

case.      He  informed  them  that  he  believed  his  son  to 


TOLLS    ON    CANAL    BRIDGE.  47 

be  one  of  those  spoken  of  in  the  Bible  as  "  possessed 
with  a  devil ;  "  and,  when  asked  what  remedial  meas- 
ures he  had  adopted,  replied  that  he  was  in  the  habit 
of  whipping  him.  The  young  man  was  entirely  cured, 
and  became  subsequently  a  pedler,  in  which  vocation 
he  displayed  so  much  Yankee  shrewdness,  that  he 
acquired  a  property  of  ten  or  twelve  thousand  dollars. 
Three  hours'  deliberation  on  the  admission  of  each 
patient  would  hardly  be  found  practicable  in  these 
later  times,  when  the  institution  numbers  two  hun- 
dred inmates.  The  Trustees,  however,  always  scrupu- 
lously require  a  medical  certificate  as  to  the  fact  of 
insanity. 

Dec.  20,  voted  that  Messrs.  Lowell,  Quincy,  and 
Coolidge  be  a  Committee  to  wait  on  James  Prince, 
Esq.,  Treasurer  of  the  Corporation,  to  express  the 
regret  of  this  Board  at  learning  his  intention  to 
resign,  ''  their  unanimous  sense  of  his  very  able  and 
zealous  services,"  and  their  wish  that  he  would  con- 
sent to  serve  at  least  another  year.  With  this  request 
he  complied,  and  remained  in  office  till  his  death. 
The  temperance  reform  had  not  as  yet  commenced, 
and  a  Committee  was  appointed  to  ask  for  a  grant 
of  "  a  tax  on  licenses  to  sell  spirituous  liquors."  The 
Board  of  Visitors  made  a  visit  to  the  Asylum,  by 
invitation  of  the  Trustees,  and  are  reported  to  the 
Board  as  having  '•  expressed  much  satisfaction  at  the 


48  TAX    ON    LICENSES.  SMALL    MEANS. 

promising  state  of  the  institution."  Messrs.  Lowell 
and  Quincy  were  appointed  a  Committee  to  confer 
with  the  Lechmere  Point  Corporation,  on  the  subject 
of  the  "  officers  of  the  Hospital  being  permitted  to  pass 
their  bridge  free  of  toll."  Dec.  27,  the  Treasurer 
furnished  "  a  very  judicious  plan  for  keeping  the 
accounts  of  the  Asylum."  Jan.  3,  1819,  a  Com- 
mittee of  five  was  appointed  to  get  the  signatures 
of  individuals  to  the  petition  for  a  tax  on  licenses. 
Jan.  24,  1819,  the  Treasurer  reported  that  he  had 
borrowed  a  further  sum  of  eleven  hundred  dollars, 
and  was  authorized  to  borrow  five  thousand  more. 

At  the  annual  meeting,  Jan.  19,  Peter  C.  Brooks 
was  elected  a  Trustee  in  place  of  Thomas  H.  Perkins, 
Esq.,  but  declined  serving.  The  thanks  of  the  Cor- 
poration were  presented  to  Colonel  Perkins  for  his 
long  and  faithful  services  as  Trustee.  At  this  annual 
meeting,  Mr.  Francis,  as  Chairman  of  the  Committee 
to  examine  the  Treasurer's  accounts,  reported  the 
property  of  the  institution,  exclusive  of  the  Province 
House,  at  $4,188,  "  which  would  be  far  short  of  the 
sum  necessary  to  complete  the  buildings."  A  Com- 
mittee of  seven  was  appointed  to  procure  subscrip- 
tions for  an  historical  picture,  to  be  painted  by  Mr. 
Allston,  and  to  be  the  property  of  the  Hospital.  No 
such  picture  was  ever  painted.  Jan.  31,  Colonel  May 
was  elected  Chairman  of  the  Trustees.     Feb.  21,  the 


VOTE    OF    PROPRIETORS    OF    CANAL    BRIDGE.  49 

town  of  Concord  was  thanked  for  its  liberal  donation. 
Feb.  28,  Dr.  Wyman's  salary  was  fixed  at  fifteen  hun- 
dred dollars.  March  21,  Mr.  Francis  was  appointed  a 
Committee  to  ascertain  the  cost  of  finishing  the  Hos- 
pital ;  and  Messrs.  Lowell,  Sullivan,  and  Francis  were 
appointed  a  Committee  to  arrange  a  plan  for  laying 
out  the  grounds  at  the  Asylum.  April  2,  reports 
were  presented  of  a  very  favorable  character  as  to 
Dr.  Wyman,  and  stating  that  his  assistants  had  be- 
haved "  with  all  due  humanity  and  attention."  The 
whole  number  of  patients  was  stated  to  be  six 
females,  nine  males.  April  4,  the  Acting  Physician 
and  Surgeon  were  re-elected.  Of  the  eight  Con- 
sulting Physicians,  the  only  change  was  the  election 
of  Dr.  James  Mann,  in  place  of  Dr.  Danforth,  who, 
it  is  believed,  was  dead.  April  11,  Mr.  Francis 
reported  that  $4,557.43  would  finish  the  Hospital 
in  a  plain,   simple   style. 

It  was  voted  to  apply  to  the  Canal  Bridge,  "  re- 
questing such  an  extension  of  their  order,  as  that 
the  Trustees,  Physicians,  and  all  persons  actually 
employed  in  the  Asylum,  when  passing  the  bridge  on 
the  business  of  said  institution,  shall  pass  the  same 
free  of  toll."  May  2,  the  Treasurer  was  authorized 
to  raise  a  sufficient  sum  to  pay  off  the  debts  of  the 
Corporation,  by  obtaining  a  loan,  &c.  May  18,  a 
Committee  was  appointed  to  make  arrangements  for 


50  RICHARD  Sullivan's  address. 

a  public  address  to  be  delivered  during  the  session  of 
Legislature,  on  the  progress  and  present  state  of  the 
institution.  A  vote  of  the  Directors  of  the  Canal 
Bridge,  relative  to  payment  of  toll  by  officers  of  the 
Asylum,  was  read  and  placed  on  file.  It  granted  the 
privilege  asked  for,  which  accordingly  has  ever  since 
been  enjoyed,  though  of  late  years  called  in  question. 
June  1,  1819,  the  Committee  reported  that  Thurs- 
day next,  at  4  o'clock,  was  appointed  for  the  delivery 
of  an  address  by  Kichard  Sullivan,  Esq. ;  and  that 
the  Governor,  Lieutenant-Governor,  Council,  Senate, 
and  House  of  Representatives,  had  been  invited  to 
attend. 

"  On  Thursday,  June  3,  the  Trustees  assembled  at  State 
House,  where  a  procession  was  formed,  consisting  of  the 
Civil  Government  of  the  Commonweahh,  the  Board  of 
Visitors,  Corporation,  Trustees,  Physicians,  and  Surgeons 
of  tlie  institution,  reverend  clergy,  and  citizens;  who  pro- 
ceeded to  King's  Chapel,  where,  after  appropriate  prayers 
by  Rev.  Dr.  James  Freeman,  and  music  by  a  select  choir  of 
amateurs,  an  elegant,  feeling,  and  persuasive  address  was 
delivered  by  Richard  Sullivan,  Esq.,  on  the  utility  and  prog- 
ress of  the  combined  institution." 

This  address  was  published  by  order  of  the  Trus- 
tees, and  forms  a  pamphlet  of  twenty-one  pages, 
containing,  in  an  appendix  of  eleven  pages,  letters  of 
physicians,  &c.,  some  of  which  had  been  published 
with  the  address  of  1816. 


SMALL    LOANS.  51 

July  1,  Tristram  Barnard  having  resigned,  and 
Mr.  Brooks  declined,  Joseph  Head  and  Thomas  W. 
Ward  were  elected  by  the  Trustees  to  fill  these  va- 
cancies. Thanks  were  presented  to  Mr.  William  H. 
Lane  for  the  present  of  a  mahogany  medicine  case, 
valued  at  two  hundred  dollars.  July  6,  a  very  cor- 
dial vote  of  thanks  was  passed,  and  ordered  to  be  sent 
to  Mr.  Barnard.  Depositions,  in  perpetuance  of  Mr. 
Prince  and  his  sister  Mrs.  Tucker,  were  ordered  to 
be  taken  as  to  the  Allen-street  Estate.  Aug.  17,  an 
invoice  of  medicines  and  shop-furniture  ($111.20) 
was  presented  by  Dr.  Wyman,  and  suitably  acknowl- 
edged. Oct.  7,  the  Treasurer  was  authorized  to  bor- 
row one  thousand  dollars  from  Mr.  Head,  and  five 
hundred  each  from  Mr.  Francis  and  Mr.  Coolidge  ; 
and  a  Committee  was  appointed  to  solicit  new  sub- 
scriptions. 

Oct.  19,  David  Sears  resigned ;  and,  on  Nov.  2, 
Samuel  Appleton  was  elected  in  his  stead.  The  Com- 
mittee on  Subscriptions  reported  an  address  to  the 
public,  which  was  ordered  to  be  printed.  I  have  not 
seen  a  copy  of  this  document.  A  bequest  of  four 
hundred  dollars  from  Polly  Pussell,  of  Charlestown, 
is  credited  on  the  Treasurer's  books.  In  November, 
the  Treasurer  was  authorized  to  obtain  a  loan  of  six 
thousand  dollars.  Dec.  19,  the  Committee  for  sub- 
scriptions   reported    that    "  their    success    had    been 


52  SAMUEL   ELIOT  S    BEQUEST. 

satisfactory.''  Benjamin  Wiggin,  Esq.,  offered  a 
celebrated  picture,  "  The  Capuchin  Chapel,"  to  be  ex- 
hibited for  benefit  of  the  Hospital,  and  was  thanked 
for  "his  very  generous  offer."  Jan.  6,  1820,  Mr. 
William  Hall  presented  "  his  patent  for  sweeping 
chimneys,"  to  be  used  in  the  Hospital. 

Jan.  23,  the  same  Board  of  Trustees  were  re- 
elected on  the  part  of  the  Corporation.  Jan.  30,  the 
munificent  bequest  of  Mr.  Samuel  Eliot,  of  ten  thou- 
sand dollars,  for  the  use  of  the  Asylum,  was  commu- 
nicated by  Mr.  Lowell,  one  of  the  executors.  Feb. 
6,  Messrs.  Head  and  Francis  made  a  detailed  report 
on  the  accounts  kept  at  the  Asylum,  recommending 
the  employment  of  a  person  to  post  the  books.  On 
Feb.  20,  John  Belknap  was  elected  a  Trustee  by  the 
Board  of  Visitors,  in  place  of  Hon.  John  Lowell, 
resigned.  March  19,  a  proposition  to  endeavor  to 
effect  a  loan  for  finishing  the  Hospital  was  discussed. 
April  9,  the  Treasurer  and  Messrs.  Francis  and 
Coolidge  were  appointed  a  Committee  "  to  proceed 
in  finishing  the  Hospital."  On  April  18,  a  formal 
announcement  of  Mr.  Eliot's  bequest,  and  of  the 
executor's  readiness  to  pay  the  same,  was  received ; 
and  the  donation  was  gratefully  accepted  by  the 
Trustees.  In  amount  it  was  surpassed  only  by  the 
gifts  of  Mr.  Phillips  and  Mr.  Oliver.  At  this  meet- 
mg  a  Committee  was  also  appointed    to  thank    Mr. 


LOTTERY. BEZA    TUCKEr's    DEVISE.  53 

Wigginfor  the  $1,604,  net  proceeds  of  the  exhibition 
of  his  picture. 

May  2,  Mr.  Francis  reported  that  the  Committee 
had  engaged  workmen,  procured  materials,  and  em- 
ployed James  M-Allister  to  superintend  the  comple- 
tion of  the  Hospital.  June  6,  the  Trustees  declined 
applying  to  the  Legislature  in  aid  of  a  project  for  a 
lottery,  a  portion  of  the  profits  of  which  were  to  be 
for  the  use  of  the  Hospital.  June  20,  an  extract 
from  the  will  of  Beza  Tucker  was  read,  giving  a  brick 
dwelling-house  and  land  in  a  court  leading  from  Boyl- 
ston  Street,  now  Boylston  Place ;  and  the  Treasurer 
was  ordered  to  receive  the  same,  and  to  make  suitable 
acknowledgments  therefor.  It  was  then  worth  about 
six  thousand  dollars,  and  was  sold  in  1827  for  $5,350. 
Dr.  Wyman  was  requested  to  assist  the  Building  Com- 
mittee of  the  Hospital.  Mr.  Francis  resigned  the 
office  of  Trustee,  and,  on  July  19,  his  resignation  was 
accepted ;  but  he  was  requested  still  to  advise  and 
assist  the  Committee  in  finishing  the  Hospital.  Oct. 
5,  it  appeared  that  several  elopements  from  the 
Asylum  had  occurred,  and  a  Committee  was  appointed 
on  the  subject  of  measures  proper  to  prevent  the 
same.  Oct.  22,  the  Building  Committee  were 
ordered  to  take  measures  to  erect  the  western  wins: 
of  Hospital  in  the  ensuing  spring.  They  reported 
that  the  centre  and  easterly   wing  were  now  nearly 


54  DEATH    OF   TREASURER   PRINCE. 

finished,  but  that  it  was  inexpedient  to  open  the  PIos- 
pital  immediately  for  the  reception  of  patients.  Nov. 
19,  blanks  were  ordered  for  admission  of  patients  at 
Hospital,  and  a  supply  of  necessary  furniture. 

Jan.  4,  1821,  applications  were  received  for  office 
of  Superintendent  of  Hospital,  with  recommendations. 
On  Jan.  21,  the  existing  Board  of  Trustees  were 
re-elected  ;  Mr.  Francis  being  again  chosen  a  member, 
notwithstanding  his  recent  resignation.  But,  Mr. 
Quincy  having  declined,  the  Board  of  Visitors  elected 
Daniel  P.  Parker,  Esq.  On  Feb.  11,  "  the  Chairman 
communicated  to  the  Board,  intelligence  of  the  de- 
cease, yesterday,  of  James  Prince,  Esq.,  late  Treasurer 
of  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital  and  of  the 
Provident  Institution  for  Savings  in  the  town  of  Bos- 
ton, and  Marshal  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 
The  exemplary  zeal,  activity,  faithfulness,  and  punc- 
tuality, displayed  by  Mr.  Prince  in  promoting  the 
objects  of  this  institution,  were  called  to  mind  by  the 
Trustees,  and  his  disinterested  exertions  considered  as 
entitling  him  to  the  grateful  remembrance  of  the  char- 
itable and  humane."  Mr.  Francis  says  that  he  was 
a  most  able  and  efficient  officer,  and  that  without  his 
assistance  the  purchase  of  the  Allen-street  Estate 
could  not  have  been  effected. 

At  this  meeting,  Feb.  11,  it  was  ordered  that 
Visiting  Committees  should  hereafter  consist  of  two 


FIRST    PATIENT    RECEIVED    AT    HOSPITAL.  55 

instead  of  three  members,  and  the  term  of  service 
of  each  Committee  be  two  months  instead  of  four. 
Feb.  25,  Wilham  Cochran,  Esq.,  the  new  Treasurer, 
elected  on  the  20th  instant,  was  quahfied.  March  4, 
twenty-two  applications  were  received  and  read  for 
offices  of  Superintendent  and  Matron  of  Hospital. 
At  the  annual  meeting,  March  21,  1821,  a  new  draft 
of  by-laws,  as  reported  by  Colonel  May  and  the  Secre- 
tary, was  adopted  and  recorded.  March  21,  Messrs. 
May,  Sullivan,  and  the  Secretary,  were  appointed  a 
Committee  on  the  rules  and  regulations  for  the  Hos- 
pital. April  1,  Capt.  Nathaniel  Fletcher  and  his 
wife  were  elected  Superintendent  and  Matron  of  the 
Hospital.  On  April  29,  it  was  voted  to  discontinue 
meetings  on  Sunday  ;  which,  however,  were  resumed 
in  1822.  June  19,  thanks  were  given  to  the  Bos- 
ton Manufacturing  Company  for  a  donation  of  three 
bales  of  sheetings.  July  5,  twenty-eight  patients  were 
reported  as  inmates  of  the  Asylum ;  and  rules  and 
regulations  were  adopted  for  the  Hospital,  and  re- 
corded in  extenso. 

Aug.  21,  notice  was  ordered  to  Drs.  Jackson  and 
Warren  that  the  Hospital  will  be  ready  for  patients 
on  Sept.  1.  On  Sept.  3,  one  patient  was  admitted; 
and,  until  Sept.  20,  not  a.  single  other  application  was 
made  for  admission.  Sept.  4,  Dr.  Warren  attended, 
and  was  requested  to  draft  an  address  to  the  public. 


56  A    GOUT-CRANE. 

A  communication  was  received  from  Mr,  Greenough, 
in  regard  to  paying  the  capital  sum  as  provided  for  in 
his  lease  of  Province  House.  A  Committee  on  the 
subject  (Messrs.  Francis,  Sargent,  and  Sullivan)  were 
appointed,  who,  at  the  next  meeting,  reported  in  favor 
of  receiving  the  same.  At  a  Corporation  meeting, 
Sept.  21,  N.  P.  Russell,  Esq.,  was  elected  Treasurer,  in 
place  of  Mr.  Cochran,  deceased.  Oct.  4,  Dr.  Jackson 
nominated,  as  his  assistant,  Dr.  Walter  Channing. 
The  Treasurer  was  authorized  to  borrow  five  thousand 
dollars.  Oct.  11,  Dr.  Joshua  Green  was  appointed 
Apothecary.  Nov.  6,  it  appeared  that  ten  patients  had 
been  received  at  the  Hospital,  three  discharged,  one 
cured,  and  one  relieved.  Dec.  -4,  the  title  of  the  flats 
at  the  foot  of  Allen  Street  was  ordered  to  be  inves- 
tigated, in  reference  to  an  alleged  trespass  by  Charles 
Taylor,  Esq.  This  strip  of  flats  seems  to  have  been 
conveyed  to  Mr.  Taylor  by  the  Hospital  in  1822. 
On  Dec.  23,  a  model  of  a  machine,  called  a  "  gout- 
frame,"  invented  by  Mr.  Joseph  Trumball  for  the  pur- 
pose of  moving  helpless  people  to  and  from  bed,  was 
presented.  Messrs.  Sullivan,  Ward,  and  Bradford 
were  appointed  a  Committee  to  prepare  the  annual 
report.  Jan.  10,  1822,  six  free  beds  w^ere  established  ; 
three  for  medical,  three  for  surgical  patients. 

At  the   Corporation    meeting,  Jan.    15,   1822,  the 
Board   of   Trustees   were   thanked  for   their   zealous 


HORACE    GRAY.  57 

and  faithful  services  during  the  past  year ;  and  the 
same  Trustees  were  re-elected,  except  that  Theodore 
Lyman,  jun.,  was  chosen  in  place  of  Daniel  Sargent, 
Esq.  Drs.  Warren  and  Jackson,  Mr.  Fletcher  and 
Dr.  Wyman,  were  severally  re-elected  to  their  offices. 
The  Consulting  Physicians  were  Drs.  Isaac  Rand, 
David  Townsend,  Thomas  Welch,  Aaron  Dexter, 
William  Spooner,  James  Mann  ;  also,  Drs.  Joshua 
Fisher  of  Beverly,  and  Amos  Holbrook  of  Milton. 
On  Feb.  24,  Mr.  Sullivan,  Drs.  Warren,  Jackson, 
and  Wyman,  and  Mr.  Lyman,  were  appointed  a  Com- 
mittee to  prepare  a  description  and  general  account 
of  the  two  departments  of  the  Hospital ;  and  it  was 
ordered  that  one  thousand  copies  be  printed  for  dis- 
tribution. On  March  10,  the  same,  as  reported  by 
Mr.  Lyman,  was,  with  some  trifling  amendments,  ac- 
cepted. On  March  14,  it  was  voted  to  be  inexpedi- 
ent at  present  to  publish  with  said  document  a  list  of 
the  subscribers  and  benefactors.  Five  strong  rooms 
were  ordered  to  be  built  "  for  raging  female  patients." 
March  24,  the  Committee  reported  that  two  thousand 
copies  of  their  address  had  been  printed. 

April  21,  a  donation  of  a  thousand  dollars  was 
received  from  Mr.  Horace  Gray,  and  three  hundred 
from  the  Massachusetts  Charitable  Fire  Society.  The 
Building  Committee  were  ordered  to  take  measures  for 
finishing  the   portico   or  pediment  of    the  Hospital. 


58  SETH    WEBBER. A    KOMIKATION    REJECTED. 

May  5,  an  anonymous  letter,  enclosing  ten  dollars, 
was  received,  and  ordered  to  be  published  in  the 
newspapers.  May  19,  notice  was  given  of  a  bequest 
of  Captain  Seth  Webber,  who  lately  died  in  Liverpool, 
of  one  thousand  dollars  to  the  Marine  Hosjntal  in 
Boston,  believed  to  be  designed  for  this  institution. 
Aug.  4,  the  Chairman  stated  the  decease  of  James 
Perkins,  Esq.,  "  Vice-President  of  this  institution,  and 
one  of  its  most  munificent  benefactors ; "  and  that 
he,  with  others  of  the  Board,  attended  his  funeral 
yesterday.  Sept.  1,  a  nomination  of  an  Apothecary, 
as  successor  to  Dr.  Green,  was  made  by  the  Physi- 
cian and  Surgeon  ;  and  they  were  requested  "  to  with- 
drew) the  same,  and  to  nominate  some  other  |9er6t9?i." 
The  Treasurer  was  authorized  to  borrow^  five  hundred 
dollars.  Sept.  10,  James  M.  Whittemore  was  nomi- 
nated and  appointed  Apothecary.  Oct.  10,  twelve 
males,  seven  females,  in  Hospital.  Dr.  Jackson 
attended,  and  suggested  certain  regulations  respect- 
ing nurses  and  attendants,  with  a  view  to  the  better 
preservation  of  order  and  quiet.  The  Visiting  Com- 
mittee were  directed  to  inquire  as  to  the  expediency 
of  excluding  syphilitic  patients.  Nov.  3,  the  widow 
of  Thomas  Oliver  being  disposed  to  buy  the  furni- 
ture of  her  husband,  of  which  she  had  the  use  for 
life,  Mr.  Head  was  authorized  to  do  what  he  should 
"  deem  proper  and  liberal."     He  sold  it  to  her  for  five 


MR.  lyman's  address.  59 

hundred  dollars.  Nov.  10,  a  bedstead  and  other 
articles,  made  expressly  for  the  late  Abraham  Touro 
durmg  his  illness,  were  presented  by  his  sister. 
Dec.  1,  the  thanks  of  the  Board  were  presented  to 
the  executors  and  residuary  devisees  of  Captain  Seth 
Webber,  for  their  voluntary  payment  of  his  recent 
legacy  of  one  thousand  dollars ;  the  same  having  been 
now  received.  Additional  rules  and  regulations  for 
the  Asylum,  &c.,  were  adopted.  Messrs.  Coolidge  and 
May  were  appointed  a  Committee  to  wait  on  Hon. 
William  Phillips,  to  request  him  to  sit  for  his  portrait. 
This  portrait  by  Stuart  is,  it  is  needless  to  say,  a  fine 
painting  and  an  excellent  likeness,  Dec.  15,  Samuel 
Appleton  resigned  his  office  of  Trustee.  On  Jan.  7, 
1823,  Messrs.  Sullivan,  Phillips,  and  Coolidge  were 
appointed  a  Committee  to  prepare  the  annual  report. 

The  address  to  the  public  in  1822  is  a  pamphlet  of 
thirty-four  j)ages,  signed  by  all  the  twelve  Trustees, 
and  is  a  very  full  a»nd  interesting  summary  of  all  that 
had  been  done  for  the  institution,  and  its  position  and 
prospects  at  that  time.  It  is  believed  to  have  been 
from  the  pen  of  Mr.  Lyman.  Letters  from  Drs.  Jack- 
son and  Warren,  and  a  report  from  Dr.  AVyman,  are 
embodied  in  it.  The  property  of  the  institution  is 
stated  as  follows  :  — 


60  MR.    FLETCHER.  DR.  WYMAN. 

The  Province  House $40,000.00 

Boylston  Place  House 6,000.00 

General  donations  in  money    ....       28,599.87 

$74,599.87 

Donations  specially  for  Hospital  .     .     .       73,809.29 

„  „       for  Asylum   .     .     .       53,997.47 

Making  the  grand  total  of        ...       $202,406.63 

The  cost  of  the  Hospital-land  and  building  being   .     .     $94,352.29 
„  „       Asylum-laud       „         „  „         .     .       89,821.16 

$184,173.45 
The  debts  of  the  institution  being  $19,850,  and  the  income  of 
its  property  not  enough  to  pay  the  salaries. 

The  buildings  of  both  departments  had,  however, 
been  opened  to  patients  ;  and  they  had  been  placed 
under  the  charge  of  two  gentlemen,  Dr.  Wyman  and 
Mr.  Fletcher,  who  were  admirably  fitted  for  their 
respective  posts.  The  one,  indeed,  was  soon  removed 
from  us  by  a  sudden  and  lamented  death.  The  other, 
for  many  years  afterwards,  with  an  ever-increasing 
reputation  and  success,  won  for  himself,  while  living, 
the  most  unbounded  confidence  and  respect,  and  has 
left  to  his  children  an  honored  name,  —  the  most 
precious  of  all  legacies. 


61 


CHAPTER    IV. 


January,  1823,  to  June,  1827. 

Mummy  from  Thebes.  —  Fifty  Thousand  Dollars  invested  in  Mas- 
sachusetts Hospital  Life  Insurance  Company.  —  West  Wing  of 
Hospital  finished.  —  Dert  created.  —  Bequest  of  John  M'Lean, 
OVER  One  Hundred  Thousand  Dollars.  —  Legacies  of  Ahraham 
TouRO,  Eleanor  Davis,  &c.  —  Death  of  Mr.  Fletcher  — Nathan 
Gurney  elected  Superintendent.  —  Gift  of  a  Sow.  —  Lafayette. 
—  Annual  Free  Beds.  —  Portraits  of  Benefactors.  —  Col.  May 
resigns. — Joseph  Head  Chairman.  —  Erysipelas  at  Hospital. — 
Patients  removed.  —  Measures  in  Honor  of  John  M'Lean. — 
Value  of  his  Bequest  as  compared  with  Life  Insurance  Char- 
ters. 


At  the  annual  meeting  in  January,  1823,  the  Trustees 
reported  that  the  funds  had  been  increased  $4,238.50 
by  donations  ;  that  the  interior  of  the  west  wing  of  the 
Hospital  was  finished,  and  ready  for  occupation  ;  and 
that  the  colonnade  in  front  would  be  raised  in  the  en- 
suing season.  Three  new  Trustees  were  now  elected  ; 
viz.  Benjamin  Guild  and  William  H.  Prescott  chosen 
by  the  Corporation,  and  Gardiner  Greene  by  the  Board 
of  Visitors,  in  the  place  of  Richard  Sullivan,  Samuel 
Appleton,  and  John  Belknap.  Mr.  Appleton  had 
contributed  two  thousand  dollars  at  tlie  commence- 
ment of  the  establishment,  and  was  thus  one  of  the 
most  liberal  of  its  early  benefactors.  Mr.  Belknap 
has  taken  great  interest  in  the  institution  to  the  pres- 


62  FORTUNATE    INVESTMENT. 

ent  time.  He  attends  all  the  annual  meetings  ;  and, 
indeed,  he  and  two  or  three  others  are  generally  the 
only  representatives  of  the  public  on  those  occasions. 
Mr.  Sullivan,  as  Secretary  and  Trustee,  had  been  con- 
nected with  the  Hospital  from  its  foundation,  and,  as 
we  have  seen,  had  in  1819  delivered  a  public  address 
in  its  behalf.  The  Board  now  consisted  of  Messrs. 
Joseph  May,  Chairman  ;  Ebenezer  Francis,  Thomas 
W.  Ward,  Benjamin  Guild,  Gamaliel  Bradford,  Joseph 
Head,  Theodore  Lyman,  jun.,  William  H.  Prescott, 
Joseph  Coolidge,  Daniel  P.  Parker,  Jonathan  Phillips, 
and  Gardiner  Greene.  On  Jan.  7,  1823,  Messrs.  Fran- 
cis, Parker,  and  May,  with  the  Treasurer  and  Secre- 
tary, were  appointed  a  Committee  on  the  subject  of 
the  Hospital's  right  to  grant  annuities,  and  at  the 
next  meeting  reported  the  agreement  with  the  Life 
Insurance  Company,  which  was  subsequently  sanc- 
tioned by  the  Legislature  in  1824.  Feb.  2,  Messrs. 
Head,  Francis,  and  Greene  were  appointed  a  Commit- 
tee to  subscribe  for  stock  in  the  Massachusetts  Hos- 
pital Life  Lisurance  Company,  not  exceeding  fifty 
thousand  dollars.  The  Committee  subscribed  for  the 
whole  sum  named.  It  has  proved  a  most  fortunate 
investment,  now  yielding  nine  per  cent  interest. 

Eight  Consulting  Physicians  were  chosen,  —  Drs. 
John  G.  Coffin,  John  Dixwell,  and  John  Gorham, 
taking  the  place  of  Drs.  liand,  Fisher,  and  Holbrook. 


MUMMY    FROM    THEBES.  66 

Feb.  23,  the  Treasurer  was  authorized  to  borrow  ten 
thousand  dollars.  Messrs.  Lyman  and  Guild  were  ap- 
pointed a  Committee  for  collecting  a  library  for  each 
department  of  the  institution.  March  9,  a  donation  of 
three  hundred  dollars  for  the  use  of  the  Asylum  was 
offered  and  accepted  on  condition,  that,  if  the  donor 
were  ever  subsequently  to  need  it,  the  same  should 
be  repaid  to  him  without  interest.  March  23,  one 
hundred  dollars  more  was  offered  and  accepted  on  the 
same  condition.  Dr.  Whittemore  resigning,  Mr.  Ben- 
jamin Barrett  was  elected  Apothecary.  May  4,  a 
mummy  from  Thebes  was  presented  by  Bryant  P. 
Tilden  and  Robert  B.  Edes,  in  behalf  of  Jacob  Van 
Lennep  and  Company,  of  Smyrna  (the  Hospital  pay- 
ing two  hundred  dollars  out  of  the  proceeds  of  its 
exhibition  to  the  Boston  Dispensary),  which  was  grate- 
fully accepted.  This  mummy  is  now  an  appropriate 
ornament  of  the  operating  room  at  the  Hospital. 
May  18,  Samuel  Swett,  Esq.,  was  elected  Trustee,  in 
place  of  Gamaliel  Bradford,  who  resigned.  June  1. 
a  donation  of  books,  of  the  value  of  fifty  dollars, 
transmitted  through  Dr.  AVarren,  was  presented,  with 
a  catalogue.  July  8,  Messrs.  Francis  and  Guild 
were  appointed  a  Committee  to  attend  to  the  suit 
of  Hezekiah  Blanchard's  heirs.  This  related  to  the 
claim  before  alluded  to. 

On  July  23,  the  Treasurer  was  authorized  to   re- 


64  ABR4HAM    TOURO'S    LEGACY. 

ceive  the  legacy  of  Abraham  Toiiro.  It  was  the 
extremely  liberal  sum  of  ten  thousand  dollars.  On 
Aug.  lU,  the  donor  of  the  four  hundred  dollars  on 
condition  was  declared  to  be  Mr.  Lambert,  of  Rox- 
bury,  then  deceased.  Aug.  24,  Charles  W.  Chauncey 
was  chosen  Apothecary,  Mr.  Barrett  having  resigned. 
A  rule  was  adopted,  which  has  since  proved  very 
salutary,  to  charge  board  for  the  whole  quarter  in  all 
cases  of  insane  patients  removed  by  friends  before  the 
expiration  of  the  quarter,  and  against  the  advice  of 
the  Physician.  Sept.  9,  a  vote  passed  authorizing  the 
borrowing  of  thirty  thousand  dollars,  and,  on  Sept.  21, 
five  thousand  more,  both  on  mortgage  of  the  Province 
House  Estate  and  Boylston  Place  House.  Oct.  7,  the 
Committee  reported  that  they  had  leased  the  mummy 
one  year  for  exhibition  in  other  cities.  The  Chair- 
man reported  that  the  portrait  of  the  President  was 
finished  ;  and,  on  Oct.  10,  it  was  received.  The  west 
wing  of  the  Hospital  was  now  ready  for  patients. 

Nov.  2,  1823,  the  gratifying  announcement  was 
made  of  a  bequest  from  John  M'Lean,  of  twenty-five 
thousand  dollars,  payable  on  death  of  his  widow,  and 
with  the  information  that  he  had  also  made  this  insti- 
tution his  residuary  legatee,  by  which  "  a  much  larger 
sum  "  would  be  secured.  This  residue  proved  to  be 
over  ninety  thousand  dolhxrs.  Mr.  M'Lean  was  a 
truly  noble  specimen  of  a  Boston  merchant.     Hav- 


JOHN  m'lean's  legacy.  65 

ing  many  years  before  failed  in  business,  he  settled 
with  all  his  creditors,  and  obtained  a  full  discharge. 
Soon  afterwards,  by  the  safe  arrival,  as  I  believe,  of 
a  vessel  supposed  to  have  been  lost,  he  retrieved  his 
affairs.  He  forthwith  called  a  meeting  of  his  cred- 
itors, and  paid  to  each  of  them  the  balance  due,  both 
principal  and  interest. 

Nov.  23,  Dr.  John  B.  Brown  was  chosen  Assistant 
Surgeon,  on  nomination  of  Dr.  Warren.  The  office 
of  Steward  was  created  at  the  Asylum,  to  relieve  Dr. 
Wyman  of  part  of  his  duties  ;  and  John  M.  Goodwin 
was  elected.  A  Committee  was  appointed  to  obtain 
a  portrait  of  ]Mr.  M'Lean,  and  to  report  on  the  expe- 
diency of  obtaining  portraits  of  other  liberal  donors. 
Dec.  7,  Messrs.  May,  Greene,  and  Francis,  with  the 
Treasurer  and  Secretary,  were  appointed  a  Commit- 
tee to  make  a  settlement  with  the  executors  of  Mr. 
M'Lean.  The  Secretary  was  subsequently  discharged, 
and  Mr.  Guild  appointed  in  his  place.  The  Asylum 
was  represented  as  being  full,  and  several  applications 
for  admittance  declined  for  that  reason.  The  Com- 
mittee for  obtaining  Mr.  M- Lean's  portrait  were  also 
charged  with  procuring  a  portrait  of  the  late  Samuel 
Eliot.  Jan.  6,  the  Treasurer  was  authorized  to  bor- 
row six  thousand  dollars.  Messrs.  May  and  Francis 
were  appointed  a  Committee  to  settle  Mr.  M'Allister's 
accounts. 


6'6  TIME    OF    AjSMUAL    3IEETING    CHANGED. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Corporation  in  January,  1824, 
Mr.  Lyman  presented  the  report  *  noticing  in  suit- 
able terms  the  recent  muniticent  bequest  of  John 
M'Lean,  Esq.  Dr.  Jackson  and  Mr.  Francis  Avcre 
appointed  a  Committee  as  to  an  alteration  in  the  time 
of  the  annual  meeting  ;  and  this  Committee  reported 
subsequently  in  favor  of  meeting  on  the  second  Wed- 
nesday of  June,  which  report  was  accepted,  so  that 
the  Trustees  now  chosen  served  a  year  and  a  half. 
Edward  Tuckerman  was  elected  Trustee  in  place  of 
William  H.  Prescott.  Feb.  1,  a  letter  from  Dr. 
Coffin  was  received,  resigning  his  office  of  Consulting 
Physician,  and  making  some  observations  on  the 
offices  of  Attending  Physician  and  Surgeon.  Feb.  8, 
Messrs.  Francis  and  Guild  were  appointed  a  Commit- 
tee on  the  settlement  of  accounts  by  the  executors  of 
Mr.  M'Lean,  as  to  the  amount  charged  for  commis- 
sions, and  the  investment  of  the  trust-fund. 

In  the  ninth  volume  of  Pickering's  Peports,  page 
447,  is  a  report  of  the  suit  brought  by  Harvard 
College  and  the  Hospital,  v.  the  surviving  Trustee 
under  Mr,  M'Lean's  will  ;  in  which  the  Court  decided 
that  the  Trustees  had  the  right  to  select  any  stocks 
they  pleased  for  the  trust-fund.  They  had  appro- 
priated   to   this   object    insurance    stock,    entitled    to 


*  No  copy  of  this  Ueport  was  suppused  to  be  extant  ;  but  one  has  been 
discovered. 


m'lean  trust-fund.  —  A  sow.  67 

large  foreign  claims,  and  manufacturing  stocks,  which 
shortly  afterwards  made  larofe  dividends  for  sale  of 
patent  rights  and  patterns  and  machinery.  Tlie  two 
Corporations  had  offered  to  pay  six  per  cent  interest 
to  the  widow  (three  thousand  dollars  a  year)  in  De- 
cember, 1823  ;  but  their  proposal  was  declined.  The 
ultimate  value  of  the  trust-property  received  on  the 
decease  of  Mrs.  M'Lean,  in  the  year  1834,  was  thus 
reduced  to  less  than  twenty  thousand  dollars  for  each 
of  the  two  Corporations,  while  she  herself  received 
an  income  probably  averaging  twelve  per  cent  per 
annum.  It  is  believed  that  every  Trustee  of  the  Hos- 
pital and  every  Corporator  of  the  College  coincided 
in  opinion,  that  this  investment  of  the  trust-funds, 
though  adjudged  to  be  legal,  was  not  made  in  the 
exercise  of  a  sound  discretion,  and  with  a  due  regard 
to  the  rights  of  all  parties. 

Feb.  20,  a  patient  was  dismissed  by  the  Visiting 
Committee  "  for  having  introduced  liquor  privately." 
Feb.  24,  Messrs.  Francis  and  Head  were  appointed 
a  Committee  to  advise  and  direct  the  Treasurer  in 
the  investment  of  sums  of  money  he  may  receive. 
April  6,  Messrs.  Francis  and  Russell  were  appointed 
a  Committee  on  the  mode  of  keeping  the  accounts 
with  the  Superintendent.  April  9,  thanks  were 
given  to  Gorham  Parsons,  Esq.,  '-for  the  iiresent  of 
a  sow  of  cm  uncommonly  fine  breed.''     Her  weight, 


68  PORTRAITS  OF  BENEFACTORS. 

in  the  Visiting  Committee's  records,  is  stated  at  273 
pounds.  As  this  gift  is  noticed  in  both  records, 
it  evidently  made  a  great  sensation.  May  2,  notice 
was  given  of  a  settlement  of  Gray's  suit  by  a  judg- 
ment in  favor  of  Hospital  by  consent,  and  a  payment 
of  five  hundred  dollars.  June  6,  a  cold  and  warm 
salt-water  bathing-house  was  ordered  to  be  erected  at 
the  Hospital.  Aug.  15,  Dr.  Henry  Lane  was  elected 
Apothecary,  in  place  of  Dr.  Chauncey,  who  resigned. 
The  Humane  Spciety  announced  their  intention  of 
giving  enough  annually  to  support  six  free  beds  ; 
which  generous  proposal  was  gratefully  acknowledged 
and  accepted. 

Sept.  26.  the  profits  of  the  exhibition  of  the 
mummy  are  stated  to  be  fifteen  hundred  dollars.  The 
donation-book,  probably  deducting  certain  charges  and 
the  payment  to  the  Dispensary,  makes  the  sum  but 
little  less  than  twelve  hundred  dollars.  Dec.  19, 
Messrs.  Francis,  Parker,  and  Lyman  were  appointed 
a  Committee  to  consider  the  expediency  of  erecting 
an  additional  building  at  the  Asylum.  Dec.  31, 
thirty-two  males  and  twelve  females  in  Hospital  : 
total,  forty-four. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Corporation,  Jan.  7, 
1825,  no  change  waS  made  in  the  Board  of  Trustees 
for  this  year.  Jan.  7,  Committees  were  appointed 
to   procure   portraits  of  Mr.  Oliver   and   Mr.  Touro. 


MRS.    DAVIS'S    GIFT.  MR.    FLETCHER's    DEATH.      69 

The  po]'trait  of  John  M'Lean  was  brought  in  at 
this  meeting-.  It  is  one  of  the  happiest  works  of 
Stuart.  The  record  says  of  this  painting,  "  The 
resembhmce  is  striking,  and  the  expression  charac- 
teristic." Feb.  20,  a  bequest  of  the  Lite  Mrs.  Eleanor 
Davis,  of  nine  hundred  dollars,  was  communicated, 
with  information  that  the  amount  had  been  paid  by 
her  executor.  Dr.  George  C.  Shattuck  ;  and  the  Treas- 
urer was  directed  to  make  suitable  acknowledgments 
for  the  same.  April  5,  the  subject  of  incurable  pa- 
tients at  the  Asylum  was  referred  to  Messrs.  Francis, 
Prescott,  and  May. 

May  1,  Mr.  Francis,  of  the  Visiting  Committee, 
stated  the  death  of  Capt.  Nathaniel  Fletcher  this  day, 
after  an  illness  of  less  than  a  week  ;  and  that  Dr. 
Lane,  the  resident  medical  officer,  had  been  requested 
to  act^^ro  tern.  The  Chairman  and  the  Visiting  Com- 
mittee were  instructed  to  superintend  the  arrange- 
ments for  the  funeral.  Mr.  Francis  says  that  Mr. 
F'letcher  had  always  made  a  very  exemplary  officer, 
having  given  entire  satisfaction  to  the  Trustees. 
Messrs.  Swett  and  Prescott  were  appointed  a  Com- 
mittee to  prepare  the  report,  to  be  presented  at  the 
annual  meeting,  June  8  next,  according  to  a  late 
change  in  the  by-laws. 

At  this  annual  meeting,  Bryant  P.  Tilclen,  Esq., 
Captain    Robert    B.    Edes,    Jacob     Van    Leunep    of 


70  MR.    GURNEY.  VISIT    OF    LAFAYETTE. 

Smyrna,  Rufus  Wyman,  and  Samuel  Swett,  Esq., 
Avere  elected  members.  The  three  first  gentlemen 
had  been  instrumental  in  the  late  donation  of  the 
mummy.  It  was  also  voted,  '•  That  the  Hon.  William 
Prescott,  Thomas  H.  Perkins,  Josiah  Quincy,  John 
Lowell,  Charles  Jackson,  Peter  C.  Brooks,  and  Dr. 
John  C.  Warren,  be  a  Committee  to  devise  the  most 
becoming  mode  of  perpetuating  the  memory  of  the 
late  John  ^I'Lean,  Esq.,  as  a  munificent  benefactor 
of  this  institution  ;  and  that  said  Committee  report 
to  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  this  Corporation,  whose 
decision  thereon  shall  be  final."  May  '29,  1825, 
fifteen  applications  for  the  office  of  Superintendent 
were  considered;  and,  on  June  12,  Nathan  Gurney, 
then  of  Abington,  Mass.,  was  unanimously  elected. 
On  Monday,  June  20,  General  Lafayette,  with  his 
son  and  several  gentlemen,  accompanied  by  his  Ex- 
cellency the  Governor  and  the  Lieutenant-Governor, 
visited  the  Hospital.  They  were  received  by  the  Pres- 
ident of  the  Corporation,  the  Board  of  Trustees,  and 
the  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  and  were  conducted 
through  the  several  wards  and  other  parts  of  the 
building.  The  engagements  of  the  General  did  not 
permit  him  to  visit  the  Asylum  for  the  Insane  at 
Charlestown.  July  2,  the  Board  of  Visitors  made 
their  visit  at  the  Asylum.  jSIr.  Gurney  and  his  wife 
arrived,  and  commenced  their  duties.     • 


AJS^iUAL    FREE    BEDS.  71 

July  24,  a  grant  of  one  hundred  dollars  was  made 
to  Dr.  Lane,  for  his  services  as  acting  Superintendent 
since  the  decease  of  Mr.  Fletcher,  "  in  which  capacity 
his  discreet  and  zealous  performance  of  the  duties 
of  the  office  have  met  with  the  entire  approbation  of 
the  Trustees."  Sept.  28,  plans  were  considered  for  an 
addition  to  the  male  wing  at  the  Asylum,  which,  on 
Sept.  30,  was  ordered  to  be  built ;  and  Messrs.  Fran- 
cis, Parker,  and  Lyman  were  appointed  a  Building 
Committee  to  carry  said  vote  into  effect.  Oct.  7,  it 
was  voted  that  the  Visiting  Committees  should  make 
their  visits  unattended  by  the  superintendents,  apothe- 
caries, or  nurses,  probably  in  order  that  patients  might 
more  freely  state  any  causes  of  complaint.  Oct.  23, 
Dr.  Lane  resigned  his  office  of  Apothecary,  and  Mr. 
Joseph  Reynolds  was  elected.  An  important  vote 
was  passed,  placing  a  free  bed  for  one  year  at  the 
disposal  of  any  one  who  should  pay  one  hundred 
dollars.  The  result  has  been  that  more  than  sixty 
thousand  dollars  have  been  since  received  for  free 
beds.  Nov.  6,  a  quarterly  analysis  of  the  accounts, 
showing  the  cost  of  stores,  &c.,  was  ordered  to  be  laid 
before  the  Board.  Nov.  20,  the  last  instalment  of 
the  fifty  thousand  dollars  stock  in  the  Massachu- 
setts Hospital  Life  Insurance  Company  was  paid  in. 
Dec.  18,  the  subject  of  the  admission  of  patients  with 
syphilis  and  infectious  disorders  was  referred  to  the 


72         GIFTS    OF    MESSRS.    HEAD    AND    MR.    CROCKER. 

Visitins:  Committee  and  General  Lvman.  The  fact 
that  certain  persons  were  in  the  habit  of  visiting  the 
Hospital  on  Sundays,  and  having  religious  worship  in 
the  wards,  often  producing  an  unfavorable  excitergent 
in  the  patients,  was  communicated  to  the  Board ;  and 
the  subject  was  referred  to  the  Chairman  and  Mr. 
Prescott,  who,  by  a  written  report  at  the  next  meet- 
ing, put  an  end  to  the  practice  alluded  to.  Dec.  30, 
twenty-eight  males  and  eighteen  females  in  Hos- 
pital. 

On  Jan.  12,  1826,  a  Committee  (by  Mr.  Fran- 
cis, the  Chairman)  reported  in  favor  of  receiving 
actual  possession  now  of  Thomas  Oliver's  property 
($24,138.70),  and  agreeing  to  pay  his  widow  thirteen 
hundred  dollars  a  year  during  lier  life  ;  which  report 
was  accepted.  Jan.  22,  nineteen  annual  subscribers 
for  free  beds  had  been  obtained.  Feb.  5,  a  letter 
from  Joseph  Head,  Sen.  and  Jun.,  executors  of  Mr. 
Oliver's  will,  ^vas  received  and  read,  relinquishing 
twelve  hundred  dollars,  the  amount  of  their  commis- 
sions ;  and  the  thanks  of  the  Board  were  presented 
for  this  donation.  An  extra  grant  Avas  made  to  Dr. 
Wyman  of  five  hundred  dollars  for  his  services  and 
aid  in  regard  to  the  new  building  at  the  Asylum. 
Feb.  26,  1826,  Dr.  John  B.  Brown's  resignation  Avas 
accepted.  March  19,  Allen  Crocker's  bequest  of  one 
hundred  dollars  was  received  and  acknowledged  ;  and 


ASYLUM    NAMED    FOR    MR.    M'LEAN.  73 

Dr.  George  Hayward  was  chosen  Assistant  Surgeon. 
Dr.  Hayward,  after  serving  as  a  surgeon  of  the  insti- 
tution for  twenty-five  years,  resigned  in  1851  ;  and  his 
labors  were  so  highly  appreciated,  that  the  Trustees, 
by  a  special  vote,  requested  him  to  withdraw  his 
resignation,  and,  on  his  final  retirement,  passed  a 
highly  complimentary  vote,  to  which  all  the  Board 
felt  that  he  was  fully  entitled. 

On  April  7,  a  free  bed  for  life  was  placed  at  the 
disposal  of  Mrs.  Ann  M'Lean,  widow  of  John  M'Lean, 
Esq.  April  11,  four  incurable  patients  were  removed 
from  the  Asylum,  to  make  room  for  curable  cases. 
May  21,  Messrs.  Head,  Francis,  and  Prescott  were 
appointed  a  Committee  to  prepare  the  annual  report ; 
and  it  was  ordered  that  the  rate  of  board,  once  fixed 
by  the  Visiting  Committee,  should  not  be  altered, 
except  by  vote  of  the  Trustees,  —  a  rule  still  acted  on. 
May  21,  the  Committee  on  Mr.  Eliot's  portrait  re- 
ported that  it  was  painted  by  Mr.  Stuart,  and  had 
been  placed  at  the  Asylum.  June  4,  1826,  Mr. 
Goodwin  resigned  as  Steward  of  the  Asylum.  As  will 
be  hereafter  seen,  he  subsequently  died  holding  the 
office  of  Superintendent  of  the  Hospital.  June  12, 
the  Committee  appointed  at  the  last  meeting  of  the 
Corporation,  to  take  into  consideration  the  best  mode 
of  perpetuating  the  memory  of  John  M'Lean,  recom- 
mended that  the  Asylum  be  hereafter  known  as  "  The 

10 


74  D.    p.    TARKER. THEODORE    LYMAN. 

M'Lean  Asylum  for  the  Insane  ;  "  which  report  was 
accepted  and  ordered  to  be  laid  before  the  Corpora- 
tion. The  report  itself  is  copied  on  the  records  of  the 
Corporation.  It  closes  as  follows  :  "  Your  Committee 
have  reason  to  believe,  from  the  information  of  one 
of  their  number,  that  the  proposed  arrangement  will 
be  entirely  satisfactory  to  the  friends  of  the  testator 
and  benefactor." 

At  the  annual  meeting  in  June,  1826,  considerable 
changes  were  made  in  the  Board  of  Trustees.  Messrs. 
William  Sturgis  and  Edward  H.  Robbins,  jun.,  were 
elected  by  the  Corporation,  and  George  Ticknor  by 
the  Board  of  Visitors,  in  the  place  of  Messrs.  Lyman, 
Prescott,  and  Daniel  P.  Parker,  who  had  retired,  and 
to  whom  the  thanks  of  the  Corporation  were  voted 
for  their  faithful  services.  Mr.  Parker  has  lately  died. 
He  was  one  of  the  early  liberal  benefactors  of  the 
Hospital,  having  subscribed  five  hundred  dollars  to  its 
funds.  Mr.  Lyman  subsequently  held  the  office  of 
Vice-President,  and  at  his  death  left  a  name  indisso- 
lubly  connected  with  the  public  charitable  institutions 
of  Massachusetts,  one  of  the  most  important  of  which 
he  had  founded.  His  memory,  as  that  of  one  of  the 
purest  and  wisest  of  philanthropists,  will  be  held 
sacred  through  all  coming  generations. 

At  a  Trustees'  meeting,  July  23,  and  five  or  six 
subsequent   ones,  various    sums   were  placed  at  the 


JOSEPH    MAY.  JOSEPH    HEAD.  75 

disposal  of  Mr.  Francis,  as  Chairman  of  the  Building 
Committee.  Oct.  6,  John  Welles,  Esq.,  offered  trees 
and  shrubs  from  his  place  at  Dorchester,  for  the  use 
of  the  Hospital ;  also  the  loan  of  his  teams,  plough, 
and  driver,  to  put  the  grounds  in  order.  Oct.  10,  Mr. 
Eliot's  portrait  was  removed  from  the  Asylum  to  the 
Hospital.  Oct.  26,  Mr.  Phineas  M.  Crane  was  elected 
Apothecary,  in  place  of  Dr.  Reynolds,  resigned.  Nov. 
5th,  Colonel  Joseph  May  having  tendered  his  resigna- 
tion, "  voted  that  this  Board  is  desirous  of  expressing 
its  regret  that  Colonel  May,  after  twelve  years  of 
faithful  and  important  services  as  a  Trustee,  and  after 
having  been  many  years  the  presiding  officer  of  this 
Board,  has  found  it  necessary,  from  circumstances 
connected  with  his  other  duties,  to  resign  his  place  ; 
and  they  pray  him  on  this  occasion  to  accept  the 
assurance  of  their  respectful  regard."  Nov.  29, 
thanks  were  given  to  Hon.  .John  Welles  and  Hon. 
Jonathan  Hunnewell,  for  a  large  number  of  young 
trees  and  ornamental  shrubs. 

Dec.  3,  Joseph  Head  was  elected  Chairman;  and 
Amos  Lawrence,  Esq.,  was  elected  a  Trustee  in  place 
of  Colonel  May.  Dec.  29,  forty  males  and  sixteen 
females  in  Hospital.  Jan,  9,  1827,  erysipelatous  in- 
flammation having  appeared  at  Hospital,  the  expedi- 
ency of  removing  all  the  patients  was  discussed  ;  and 
Messrs.  Tuckerman,  Sturgis,  Phillips,  and  Guild  were 


76  ERYSIPELAS    AT    HOSPITAL. 

appointed  a  Committee  on  the  subject.  Jan.  14, 
Mr.  Francis,  Chairman  of  the  Building  Committee, 
reported  $28,888.07  as  expended  at  the  Asylum 
to  Jan.  10.  The  Committee  reported  that  they  had 
decided,  after  conference  with  the  Physician  and  Sur- 
geon, to  make  a  temporary  removal  of  all  patients 
from  the  Hospital  (as  far  as  practicable),  with  a  view 
to  a  "  thorough  purification  by  fumigation  or  other- 
Avise  ;  "  and  that  the  E-ev.  Dr.  James  Freeman  has 
very  liberally  and  readily  offered  his  dwelling-house 
in  Vine  Street,  near  the  Hospital,  for  the  accommo- 
dation of  the  patients.  Jan.  21,  twelve  patients  were 
reported  as  removed  to  Dr.  Freeman's  house,  and 
twenty-one  discharged.  The  Canal  Bridge  asked  for 
a  copy  of  their  letter  as  to  the  immunity,  granted  to 
the  officers  of  this  Corporation  in  1819,  from  paying 
toll  ;  and  it  was  sent.  Jan.  28,  the  Hospital  was 
reported  to  be  entirely  clear  of  patients,  and  "  cleans- 
ing, fumigation,  and  alteration  of  fire-places,  &c  ,  in 
progress."  Feb.  4,  the  patients  from  Dr.  Freeman's 
house  were  received  back  into  the  Hospital.  March 
25,  Dr.  Robbins  was  appointed  a  Committee  to  return 
to  Dr.  Freeman  the  key  of  his  house,  with  thanks. 
April  22,  the  house  devised  by  Beza  Tucker,  in  Boyl- 
ston  Place,  was  sold  to  Matthew  M.  Hunt,  Esq.,  for 
$5,350  at  auction.  May  20,  Messrs.  Head,  Ticknor, 
and  the  Secretary,  were  appointed  a  Committee  to  pre- 


m'lean  donation.  77 

pare  the  annual  report.     June  29,  males  twenty-six, 
females  eighteen  :  total,  forty-two  in  the  Hospital. 

This  third  period  of  five  years  was  a  very  impor- 
tant one.  The  great  event  of  the  M'Lean  donation 
served  to  relieve  the  institution  from  embarrassments, 
and  insured  its  success.  The  contingency  had  now 
occurred,  which  was  contemplated  in  the  charter,  of  a 
donation  greater  than  that  of  the  Commonwealth.  It 
was  the  feeling  of  Mrs.  M'Lean,  and  also,  at  first,  of 
others  of  the  testator's  connections,  that  the  corporate 
name  should  be  changed.  There  was  an  earnest 
desire  to  do  all  that  could  or  ought  to  be  done  to 
express  the  high  sense  entertained  of  this  act  of  munif- 
icence. The  decision  finally  made  was,  it  is  believed, 
alike  expedient  for  the  Hospital,  and  just  to  the 
deceased.  His  name  was  given  to  one  of  the  two 
great  departments  of  the  institution,  on  which  a  very 
large  sum  was  forthwith  expended  for  the  erection  of 
additional  buildings,  and  where  many  expensive  im- 
provements have  since  been  made,  so  that  the  actual 
cost  of  the  establishment  which  bears  his  name  is 
more  than  double  the  amount  realized  from  his  whole 
bequest.  On  the  other  hand,  the  corporate  name 
remaining  unchanged,  many  sons  and  daughters  of 
Massachusetts  have  since  contributed  to  it  as  a  State 
institution,  what  perhaps  they  would  have  hesitated 
to  bestow,  if  it  had  borne  the  name  of  a  private 
founder. 


78  STATE    OF    INSTITUTION. 

None  of  the  annual  reports  of  the  institution  prior 
to  1826  have  been  preserved.  This  report  is  on  one 
printed  sheet.  It  states  that  forty-three  free  beds  had 
been  kept  at  the  Hospital  during  the  preceding  year  ; 
that  thirty-one  males  and  twenty-six  females  were 
then  in  the  Asylum  luider  treatment.  It  estimates 
the  value  of  the  invested  property  of  the  Hospital  at 
$96,694.06  ;  and  its  annual  expenses,  for  Hospital, 
$9,942.10,  and  for  Asylum,  |5,390.62 :  total  ex- 
penses, $15,332.72.  Total  income,  deducting  Mrs. 
Oliver's  annuity,  $6,336. 18.  It  mentions  Mr  M'Lean's 
donation,  and  alludes  to  the  measures  in  progress  in 
relation  to  a  suitable  testimonial  of  the  gratitude  of  the 
institution.  It  states  that  the  fifty  thousand  dollars 
invested  in  the  Massachusetts  Hospital  Life  Insurance 
Company  had  not  yet  begun  to  yield  any  income. 
No  printed  copy  of  the  annual  report  prepared  in 
1827  has  been  preserved.  Within  this  period  of  five 
years,  a  new  west  wdng  had  been  erected  at  the 
Hospital,  completing  that  building  as  it  stood  down 
to  1844.  A  large  and  expensive  addition  was  in 
progress  at  the  Asylum  to  complete  the  buildings 
for  male  patients  as  they  now  are.  The  debts  of 
the  institution  were  all  paid,  and  fifty  thousand  dol- 
lars had  been  invested  in  the  Massachusetts  Hospital 
Life  Insurance  Company  ;  and  the  highly  important 
arrangement   before  alluded  tp  had  been  made  with 


LIFE    INSURANCE    COMPANY.  79 

that  Company.  Mr.  Francis  was  Chairman  of  the 
Committee  of  the  Hospital  for  effecting  this  arrange- 
ment. He  was  also  a  member  of  the  Committee  of 
the  Life  Insurance  Company,  as  well  as  its  largest 
private  stockholder  ;  a  circumstance  which,  of  course, 
gave  additional  weight  to  his  opinions  and  advice. 
Dr.  Bowditch,  the  Actuary  of  that  Company,  had 
always  felt  an  interest  in  the  Hospital,  having  been 
a  zealous  and  efficient  member  of  the  Committee 
for  collecting  subscriptions  in  its  behalf  in  the  town 
of  Salem.  Both  these  gentlemen  believed  that  the 
true  interests  of  the  Insurance  Company  rendered  a 
liberal  arrangement  with  the  Hospital  highly  expe- 
dient, even  if  viewed  merely  as  a  matter  of  policy. 
They  felt  convinced  that  the  good-will  universally 
cherished  toward  the  Hospital  would,  in  coming 
times,  tend  to  protect  the  Insurance  Company  from 
that  jealousy  to  which  large  moneyed  institutions  are 
naturally  exposed.  It  should  ever  be  remembered, 
then,  that  to  the  sagacity,  intelHgence,  and  liberal 
views  of  the  Committees  of  the  Hospital  and  of  the 
Life  Insurance  Company,  on  this  occasion,  our  insti- 
tution is  nearly,  if  not  quite,  as  much  indebted  as  it 
is  to   the  noble  munificence  of  John  M'Lean. 


80 
CHAPTER    V. 

June,  1827,  through  1832. 

Bequest  of  William  Phillips. —  Varioloid  at  Hospital.  —Domestic 
Coffee.  —  Donation  Book. — New  Building  at  Asylum. — Fibe 
AT  Hospital.  —  Auditou  of  Accounts.  —  Silver  Spoons.  —  Eben- 
EZER  Francis,  Chairman.  —  Mr.  Joy's  Brick-kiln.  —  Death  of 
Mrs.  Gurney.  —  Wedding  at  Hospital.  —  Death  of  General  Cobb. 
—  Dr.  George  Hay  ward  chosen  Junior  Surgeon.  —  Colored 
Patient.  —  Plank  Sidewalk.  —  Bequest  of  Jeremiah  Belknap. — 
Donation  of  Joseph  Lee.  —  Lying-in  Hospital.  —  Edward  Tucker- 
man,  Chairman.  —  Donations  of  John  P.  Cushing  and  John  C. 
Gray.  —  Bequest  of  Isaiah  Thomas.  —  Cholera  Patients.  —  Dr. 
Wyman's  Illness  and  Two  Kesignations.  —  Dr.  Walker's  Ser- 
vices.—  Munificent  Bequest  of  Miss  Mary  Belknap,  One  Hun- 
dred Thousand  Dollars.  —  Services  of  Joseph  Head.  —  Portrait 
OF  Mr.  Belknap:  how  painted.  —  Bequest  of  Miss  Margaret 
Tucker.  —  A  Painted  Letter.  —  Belknap  Ward.  —  Prosperous 
Condition  of  the  Institution. 

At  the  annual  meeting,  June  13,  1827,  Hon.  Na- 
thaniel Bowditch  and  Henry  Codman,  Esq.,  were 
elected  members  of  the  Corporation ;  and  Patrick  T. 
Jackson  and  Mr.  Codman  were  elected  Trustees,  in 
place  of  Messrs.  Swett  and  Sturgis,  who  declined  elec- 
tion, and  Avere  thanked  for  their  services.  Amos 
Lawrence,  Esq.,  who  had  been  chosen  by  the  Trus- 
tees to  supply  the  vacancy  at  the  resignation  of 
Colonel  May,  was  now  elected  by  the  Corporation. 
The  officers  at  this  period  were  Hon.  Thomas  H.  Per- 
kins, President;  Hon.  John  Lowell,  Vice-President ; 
flon.  Nathaniel  P.  Kussell,  Treasurer  ;  Nathaniel   I. 


WILLIAM  Phillips's  bequest.  81 

Bowditch,  Secretary  ;  Joseph  Head,  Chairman  ;  Ebe- 
nezer  Francis,  Edward  Tuckerman,  Benjamin  Guild, 
Edward  H.  Robbins,  jun.,  Amos  Lawrence,  Patrick 
T.  Jackson,  and  Henry  Codman,  Trustees,  chosen  by 
the  Corporation  ;  Gardiner  Greene,  Joseph  Coolidge, 
Jonathan  Phillips,  and  George  Ticknor,  Trustees, 
chosen  by  the  Board  of  Visitors.  The  Consulting 
Physicians,  elected  at  the  first  meeting  of  the  Trus- 
tees, July  1,  were  I)rs.  Thomas  Welsh,  William 
Spooner,  John  Gorham,  John  Dixwell,  George  C. 
Shattuck,  and  Jacob  Bigelow,  of  Boston  ;  and  Drs. 
Abraham  R.  Thompson  and  William  J.  Walker,  of 
Charlestown.  On  July  3,  the  annual  visitation  was 
made  by  the  Board  of  Visitors.  Two  hundred  copies 
only  of  the  annual  report  being  printed,  it  is  not  now 
extant.  Of  one  later  report,  four  thousand  copies 
were  printed :  fifteen  hundred  is  now  the  usual 
number.  Aug.  20,  the  Massachusetts  Humane  So- 
ciety were  thanked  for  a  renewal  of  their  annual 
subscription  for  free  beds  during  a  further  term  of 
three  years. 

Sept.  2,  a  letter  from  Jonathan  PhiUips,  Esq.,  was 
received,,  communicating  a  bequest  from  his  late 
father,  William  Phillips,  of  five  thousand  dollars,  as 
a  fund,  the  income  "  to  be  applied  for  the  relief  of 
the  sick  poor  of  the  city  of  Boston ;  "  and  this  dona- 
tion  was   gratefully  accepted  "  as  a  new  instance  of 

11 


82  RATES  OF  BOARD  AT  ASYLUM. 

the  testator's  munificence  towards  this  institution." 
At  the  next  meeting,  the  amount,  having  been  re- 
ceived, was  ordered  to  be  placed  in  the  Massachusetts 
Hospital  Life  Insurance  Company  during  the  life  of 
the  Secretary.  The  portrait  of  Mr.  Phillips  was  at 
this  meeting  loaned  to  the  Trustees  of  Phillips  Acad- 
emy. A  vote  was  also  passed,  which  is  still  acted 
upon,  that  all  moneys  received  from  patients  by  the 
Superintendent  shall  be  placed  at  once  to  their  credit 
on  the  books  of  the  Hospital.  On  Sept.  12,  the 
Treasurer  was  authorized  to  borrow  of  the  Massachu- 
setts Hospital  Life  Insurance  Company  twenty-five 
thousand  dollars,  on  pledge  of  the  shares  in  that 
Company.  Oct.  5,  Ur.  John  B.  S.  Jackson  was 
elected  Apothecary  at  the  Hospital.  Oct.  9,  Henry 
Pierce,  of  Salem,  was  elected  Steward  of  the  Asylum, 
in  place  of  G.  W.  Folsom,  the  late  Steward,  deceased. 
Dec.  16,  the  Board  expressed  to  the  late  Apothecary, 
Dr.  Crane,  their  sense  of  the  satisfactory  manner  in 
which  he  had  performed  his  duties.  The  Visiting 
Committee,  appointed  at  the  last  meeting,  reported  on 
the  subject  of  rates  of  board  at  the  Asylum,  that  they 
should  never  be  less  than  three  dollars  nor  more  than 
twelve  dollars  per  week.  By  special  vote,  subse- 
quently, some  have  paid  at  rates  as  low  as  two 
dollars,  and  as  high  as  twenty  dollars  per  week.  A 
circular  was  directed  to  be  prepared,  soliciting  free- 
bed  subscriptions  at  the  Hospital. 


VARIOLOID.  DONATION    BOOK.  83 

At  a  special  meeting,  Dec.  29,  Drs.  Jackson  and 
Warren  attended,  and  announced  a  case  of  varioloid 
in  the  Hospital  (Dr.  Crane,  the  late  Apothecary), 
and  the  measures  which  they  had  taken  to  prevent 
infection,  such  as  removal  of  the  patient,  vaccination, 
&c. ;  and  they  were  requested  to  publish  a  newspaper 
statement,  "  that  no  unnecessary  degree  of  alarm  may 
be  excited  in  the  public  mind."  Owing  to  the  judi- 
cious measures  adopted,  no  other  case  occurred. 
Jan.  11,  1828,  the  Superintendent  was  directed  not  to 
buy  any  more  "  domestic  coffee."  The  nature  of  this 
"  villanous  compound  "  is  not  stated  on  the  records  ; 
but  it  was  probably  a  preparation  of  rye.  Mrs.  John 
C.  Warren  was  thanked  for  "  her  friendly  present 
of  twenty-one  volumes "  to  the  Hospital  Library. 
Jan.  27,  forty  free  beds  were  established.  There  are 
now  eighty. 

On  March  9,  Colonel  May  was  requested  to  pre- 
pare a  list  of  all  donations  to  the  Massachusetts 
General  Hospital,  and  one  hundred  dollars  was 
appropriated  to  that  object.  This  vote  is  the  origin 
of  the  "  Donation-book,"  decidedly  the  most  important 
of  all  the  records  of  the  institution.  It  was  completed 
down  to  this  date  in  a  beautifully  neat  style  of  pen- 
manship, and  has  been  since  continued  to  the  present 
time  in  an  equally  satisfactory  manner  by  Henry  B. 
Rogers,  Esq.     Thomas  B.  Wales,  Esq.,  was  thanked 


84  IMPROVEMENTS    AT    ASYLUM. 

for  his  donation  of  $825  for  the  purchase  of  a  free 
bed  for  life.  March  23,  Mr.  Francis,  from  the  Build- 
ing Committee,  reported  that  the  whole  expenses 
since  May,  1826,  at  Asylum,  were  $64,166.57;  of 
which  fifty-eight  thousand  dollars  had  been  paid  by 
the  Treasurer  on  orders  of  the  Committee  ;  —  that  the 
lodge  (a  separate  brick  building  for  violent  patients) 
was  now  finished  and  occupied  ;  the  large  building 
nearly  finished,  and  in  part  occupied,  &;c.  April  11, 
1828,  Dr.  Wyman  was  authorized  to  procure  a  car- 
riage and  a  pair  of  horses,  to  be  used  at  the  M'Lean 
Asylum  for  the  Insane,  for  the  purpose  of  giving 
air  and  exercise  to  the  boarders.  A  grant  of  one 
hundred  dollars  was  made  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gur- 
ney,  "  for  their  kind,  assiduous,  and  faithful  services 
as  Superintendent  and  Matron  of  the  Hospital." 
On  April  27,  Mr.  Greenough  applying  to  buy  the 
reversionary  interest  of  the  Corporation  in  the  Prov- 
ince House  Estate,  Messrs.  Francis  and  Lawrence 
were  appointed  a  Committee  to  ascertain  its  value. 
The  Hospital  declined  making  the  proposed  sale. 

May  11,  Messrs.  Guild,  Jackson,  and  Robbins  were 
appointed  a  Committee  to  prepare  the  annual  report. 
June  8,  the  mansion-house  at  the  Asylum  was  ordered 
to  be  repaired,  though  it  must  be  "at  considerable 
expense."  The  annual  report  is  signed  by  Joseph 
Head,  Chairman  of  the    Trustees.     It  occupies    but 


AUDITOR   OF    ACCOUNTS.  85 

two  and  a  half  octavo  pages.  It  states  the  whole 
number  of  free  patients  discharged  for  the  year  ending 
April  1,  1828,  to  be  218.  Appended  to  the  report 
are  tables,  showing  donations  during  the  year:  from  a 
black  woman,  50  cents  ;  Samuel  T.  Armstrong,  f  100  ; 
Thomas  B.  Wales,  $825;  thirty-three  free  beds, 
13,320;  life-free  beds  of  Jeremiah  Belknap,  $654, 
and  Peter  C.  Brooks,  $810 ;  dividend  of  Massachu- 
setts Hospital  Life  Insurance  Company,  $3,500,  &c. ; 
making  in  all,  $14,473.6-4.  The  invested  property  of 
the  Hospital  was  stated  at  $38,900.  June  6,  there 
were  thirty-one  males  and  twenty-eight  females  in  the 
Hospital. 

At  the  annual  meeting,  June  11,  1828,  William  H. 
Gardiner  was  chosen  a  Trustee  in  place  of  P.  T.  Jack- 
son, Esq.,  who  declined  a  re-election,  and  was  thanked 
for  his  services.  All  the  medical  and  surgical  officers, 
&c.,  of  the  last  year,  were  re-elected.  July  3,  the 
Board  of  Visitors  visited.  "  His  Excellency  (Levi 
Lincoln)  was  pleased  to  express  great  satisfaction  at 
the  result  of  his  visit."  July  8,  the  Secretary  was 
directed  henceforth  to  audit  the  accounts  of  both 
branches  of  the  institution,  with  a  salary  of  one  hun- 
dred dollars  additional  for  that  duty.  This  vote  is 
still  acted  on,  and  has  relieved  the  Trustees  of  a  duty 
which  had  been  gradually  becoming  very  irksome 
and    laborious.     July    11,   1828,  the    cylindrical   tin 


86  MEDICAL    ASSISTANTS. 

case,  containing  the  title-deeds,  &c.,  was  deposited  in 
the  safe  of  the  Massachusetts  Hospital  Life  Insurance 
Company.  [In  March,  1844,  it  was  again  restored 
to  the  Treasurer's  custody.]  July  11,  the  Acting 
Physician  and  Surgeon  were  requested  to  nominate 
assistants  ;  "  the  Trustees  deeming  it  desirable  that 
occasional  changes  should  be  made  in  those  nomi- 
nated, when  consistent  with  the  welfare  of  the  insti- 
tution." On  Aug.  3,  the  number  of  assistants  was 
restricted  not  to  exceed  three  for  each.  Dr.  Walter 
Channing  was  nominated  and  appointed  Assistant 
Physician  ;  and  Drs.  Edward  Reynolds  and  George 
W.  Otis,  Assistant  Surgeons.  The  Board  declined, 
"  though  with  sincere  regret,"  loaning  the  portraits  of 
their  donors  for  an  exhibition  of  "  Stuart's  Pictures." 
Sept.  7,  the  Apothecary  was  ordered  to  be  styled  the 
House  Physician  ;  and  Dr.  Augustus  A.  Gould  was 
appointed  for  one  year  from  Sept.  1. 

Henry  Codman,  Esq.,  the  late  Secretary,  having 
relinquished  his  salary  for  several  years,  was  thanked 
for  this  donation ;  the  Trustees  acknowledging  "  the 
uniformly  zealous  and  faithful  discharge  of  his  official 
duties,  of  which  the  records  of  this  Board  throughout 
afford  such  ample  testimony."  Oct.  26,  the  Treasurer 
was  authorized  to  borrow  ten  thousand  dollars  more. 
Mr.  Francis  and  the  Visiting  Committee  were  ap- 
pointed to  revise  the  rules  and  regulations  for    the 


FIRE    AT    HOSPITAL.  87 

Asylum.  On  Nov.  11,  they  made  a  report,  abolishing 
the  office  of  Steward,  and  substituting  a  Clerk  and 
Supervisor,  with  prescribed  duties,  with  salaries  of 
three  hundred  and  four  hundred  dollars.  Nov.  23, 
Mr.  Oliver  B.  Bond  was  chosen  Supervisor.  Dec.  7, 
Dr.  William  Spooner  resigned  as  one  of  the  Consult- 
ing Physicians,  and  was  thanked  for  his  services. 

On  Sunday,  Dec.  14,  a  special  meeting  of  the  Trus- 
tees was  held ;  present,  the  whole  Board,  except  Dr. 
Robbins,  confined  by  illness.  The  record  reads : 
"  The  present  meeting  was  in  consequence  of  a  fire 
which  broke  out  in  the  eastern  wing  of  the  Hospital, 
just  before  the  morning  service,  and  which,  though  at 
first  threatening  the  destruction  of  the  building,  was 
happily  subdued,  after  causing  some  injury  to  the 
roof  and  upper  apartments."  Messrs.  Coolidge,  Fran- 
cis, and  Ticknor  were  appointed  a  Committee  to  inves- 
tigate the  cause  of  the  fire,  and  to  make  all  repairs. 
Votes  were  passed,  thanking  the  fire-department  of 
this  and  the  neighboring  towns,  which  were  ordered 
to  be  published,  with  a  notice,  "  that  the  damage  sus- 
tained by  the  building  is  not  so  great  as  to  interrupt 
the  reception  of  patients  as  usual."  Thanks  were 
also  presented  to  individuals  who  had  kindly  off"ered 
the  use  of  their  houses,  should  the  removal  of  the 
patients  have  become  necessary.  The  Board  expressed 
their  sense  of  the  zeal  "  manifested  by  the  citizens 


88  A    SECOND    FIRE    AT    HOSPITAL. 

generally  on  this  occasion,  and  particularly  by  those 
who  assisted  in  restoring  the  house  to  order,  after 
the  fire  was  extinguished."  Hon.  Josiah  Quincy,  the 
Mayor,  attended  at  the  meeting, "  for  the  purpose  of 
affording,  on  behalf  of  the  city,  any  aid  which  might 
be  required."  Nathan  Gurney,  Esq.,  the  Superin- 
tendent, was  publicly  thanked  by  the  Board  "  for  his 
care  and  attention  to  the  patients,  and  generally  for 
his  considerate  and  judicious  arrangements  adopted 
on  this  occasion."  It  appears  that  ten  convalescent 
patients  were  discharged,  and  all  those  in  the  east 
wards  removed  to  the  other  part  of  the  house,  but 
without  any  great  "  suffering,  either  from  the  alarm 
or  the  removal." 

A  few  weeks  after  this  event,  a  patient,  the  nature 
of  whose  disorder  required  that  he  should  be  sepa- 
rated as  far  as  possible  from  others  in  the  house, 
was  placed  in  the  most  remote  apartment  in  the 
range  of  one-story  wooden  out-buildings,  which  then 
extended  from  the  north  side  of  the  Hospital  to  Allen 
Street.  It  was  an  intensely  cold  night,  and  a  large  fire 
was  made  in  the  stove  in  his  apartment,  the  funnel 
from  which  came  out  through  the  north  side  of  the 
room  into  the  open  air.  A  watchman,  going  his 
rounds,  had  his  attention  attracted  to  a  blaze,  three 
or  four  feet  in  height,  just  kindled  around  this  aper- 
ture, and  extinguished  it  without  any  general  alarm  ; 


A    THIRD    FIRE    AT    HOSPITAL.  89 

the  slumbers  even  of  the  patient  not  being  disturbed. 
A  few  days  afterwards,  as  one  of  the  medical  officers 
was  making  a  visit,  attended  by  his  students,  a  smell 
of  smoke  became  perceptible ;  and  an  attendant 
came  into  the  ward  in  an  agitated  manner,  and 
mentioned  something  to  him  in  an  under  tone.  He 
turned  round  in  a  smiling  manner  to  the  students, 
and  said,  "  Young  gentlemen,  nothing  unusual  is 
the  matter ;  I  am  merely  informed  that  the  house  is 
on  fire."  The  beijinninos  of  a  fire  from  some  com- 
bustibles  in  the  cellar  were  speedily  extinguished 
with  no  damage.  Since  these  remarkable  coinci- 
dences, we  have  enjoyed  an  entire  immunity  from 
any  dangerous  accidents  of  this  sort. 

D^c.  21,  the  Treasurer  was  authorized  to  borrow 
seven  thousand  dollars  more.  Mr.  Francis  presented 
a  report  as  to  the  cause  of  the  fire.  The  Committee 
"  found  on  the  north  side  of  the  chimney,  between 
the  ceiling  of  the  upper  story  and  the  floor  of  the 
garret,  a  piece  of  timber  and  plank  introducq^  into 
the  chimney,"  which  probably  caught  fire  from  the 
chimney  having  been  burnt  out  that  morning ;  — 
"  that  two  years  ago  an  alteration  was  made,  and  a 
flue  heretofore  used  for  ventilation  was  converted 
into  a  smoke  flue  by  a  person  not  acquainted  with  the 
original  plan,  and  who  had  no  knowledge  that  any 
wood  was  connected  with  the  flue  ;  "   that  no  blame 

12 


90  DEATH    OF    MRS.    GURNEY. 

was  attachable  to  the  Superintendent,  or  those  under 
his  direction,  for  burning  out  the  chimneys  ;  that  the 
day  was  favorable,  and  the  hour  proper ;  that  the 
repairs  had  been  nearly  completed,  and  at  much  less 
expense  than  was  expected.  It  did  not  exceed  six 
hundred  dollars.  Dec.  26,  there  were  twenty-three 
males  and  fifteen  females  in  the  Hospital :  total, 
thirty- eight. 

Jan.  22,  1829,  an  appeal  was  ordered  to  be  taken 
from  the  probate-decree  in  the  matter  of  Mr.  M'Lean's 
trust-fund.  Feb.  8,  James  S.  Russell,  of  Dracut,  was 
chosen  clerk  at  the  Asylum.  Feb.  12,  an  additional 
House  Physician  was  ordered  to  be  appointed  ;  and 
the  Superintendent  was  ordered  to  purchase  "  a  suit- 
able number  of  silver  spoons  for  use  at  the  Hosjiital, 
instead  of  the  present  pewter  ones."  Feb.  16,  Wil- 
lard  Parker  was  elected  House  Physician. 

On  March  8,  the  death  of  Mrs.  Gurney  yesterday, 
after  a  short  illness,  was  announced  ;  and  a  vote  was 
passed,  expressing  the  sense  entertained  by  the  Board 
of  her  "  kind  and  careful  services,"  and  assuring  Mr. 
Gurney  of  their  sympathy  "  for  his  personal  loss,"  and 
granting  him  leave  of  absence.  March  22,  Mr.  Gur- 
ney becoming  seriously  ill,  Dr.  (lould  was  requested 
to  act  as  Superintendent  jjro  tern.  April  7,  Dr.  Rey- 
nolds resigned  his  office  of  Assistant  Surgeon.  April 
10,  Mr.  Coolidge  was  appointed  a  Committee  to  cause 


EBENEZER    FRANCIS,    CHAIRMAN.  91 

the  grounds  to  be  restored  to  as  good  order  iis  before 
the  late  fire.  April  26,  Messrs.  Codman,  Francis, 
and  Lawrence  were  appointed  a  Committee  to  pre- 
pare the  annual  report.  This  report  is  about  four 
pages  long.  It  presents  an  interesting  view  of  what 
had  been  accomplished  to  that  date.  Total  receipts 
of  the  year,  18,213.31.  Cost  of  Hospital,  $130,640.31 ; 
of  Asylum,  $187,326.70.  May  24,  the  Treasurer 
was  authorized  to  borrow  three  thousand  dollars 
more.  June  7,  Dr.  Hayward  was  requested  to  sup- 
ply Dr.  Warren's  place  during  a  temporary  absence; 
the  Board  taking  occasion  '*  to  express  to  Dr.  Warren 
their  high  sense  of  the  value  of  his  services,  and 
their  belief  that  this  interval  of  relaxation  will  enable 
him  soon  to  resume  his  arduous  duties  with  improved 
health." 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Corporation,  June  10, 
1829,  Colonel  Perkins,  having  declined  a  re-election, 
was  thanked  for  "  his  faithful  services  in  the  office  of 
President  for  five  years  last  past,  and  for  the  interest 
which  he  has  uniformly  manifested  in  the  concerns  of 
this  institution."  Francis  C.  Gray,  Esq.,  was  elected 
a  Trustee  in  place  of  Joseph  Head,  Esq.,  who  also 
declined  a  re-election,  and  was  thanked  "  for  his  long, 
zealous,  and  faithful  services."  Hon.  John  Lowell 
was  then  elected  President ;  and  Gardiner  Greene, 
Esq.,  Vice-President.     July  7,  Ebenezer  Francis  was 


92  MR.  joy's  brick-kiln. 

elected  Chairman  of  the  Trustees.  All  the  medical 
and  surgical  appointments,  &c.,were  the  same  as  last 
year,  except  that  Dr.  John  Randall  was  elected  a  Con- 
sulting Physician  in  the  place  of  Dr.  Spooner,  who 
had  resigned. 

Joseph  Sweetser,  a  lessee  of  Benjamin  Joy,  Esq., 
having  erected  a  brick-kiln  in  and  over  the  fifty-foot 
way  adjoining  the  north  side  of  the  land  in  Charles- 
town,  in  violation  of  the  rights  of  this  institution,  the 
Secretary  was  directed  to  request  Mr.  Joy  to  remove 
the  same.  Counsel  was  employed,  and  a  hearing  had 
before  Chief  Justice  Parker  at  his  chambers,  July  20, 
on  an  application  for  a  writ  of  injunction.  The  result 
was,  that  the  burning  of  the  kiln  was  permitted ;  Mr. 
Joy  executing  a  bond  in  penalty  of  two  thousand  dol- 
lars, that  no  similar  trespass  should  again  be  allowed, 
and  conditioned  to  remove  all  obstructions,  &c.,  in 
sixty  days. 

On  Aug.  9,  1829,  the  same  Clerk  and  Supervisor 
were  re-elected.  Aug.  23,  Mr.  Francis  Dana,  jun., 
was  elected  a  House  Physician  of  the  Hospital  for  the 
ensuing  year.  Aug.  28,  the  Board  of  Visitors,  his 
Excellency  Governor  Lincoln,  &c.,  visited.  His  Ex- 
cellency again  "  expressed  his  sense  of  the  order  and 
neatness,  and  th'e  arrangements  for  the  comfort,  conve- 
nience, and  safety  of  the  patients,  which  were  every- 
where visible."     Sept.  27,  Drs.  Walter  Channing  and 


COLORED    PATIENT.  93 

John  Ware  were  appointed  Assistant  Physicians,  on 
nomination  of  Dr.  James  Jackson  ;  and  Mr.  Lucius 
W.  Caryl,  a  House  Physician,  on  nomination  of 
Dr.  Warren.  Mr.  Ticknor  and  the  Secretary  were 
appointed  a  Committee  on  the  subject  of  rules  and 
regulations.  Messrs.  Francis,  Gray,  Lawrence,  Tick- 
nor, and  the  Secretary  were  appointed  a  Committee 
on  the  accounts  of  repairs  and  expenditures  at  the 
Asylum.  The  Treasurer  was  authorized  to  borrow 
seven  thousand  dollars  more. 

John  Williams,  "  a  colored  man,"  having  been  ad- 
mitted into  the  Hospital,  under  permit  of  Dr.  George 
W.  Otis,  dated  Sept.  19,  it  was  voted  that  Dr.  Otis 
be  requested  to  state  in  writing  to  this  Board  the 
circumstances  which,  in  his  opinion,  constituted  this 
a  case  of  emergency  within  the  meaning  of  second 
article  of  second  chapter  of  the  rules  and  regulations. 
Oct.  6,  the  Committee  on  rules  and  regulations  re- 
ported certain  provisions  for  officers  to  be  known  as 
House  Physician,  House  Surgeon,  and  xlpothecary, 
with  a  detail  of  the  duties  to  be  performed  by  each. 
Oct.  9,  Dr.  Otis's  answer  was  received,  stating  that 
he  had  never  before  seen  a  copy  of  the  rules  and 
regulations,  and  that  he  did  not  think  the  case  re- 
ferred to  was  one  of  emergency  within  the  meaning  of 
those  rules. 

On  Nov.  22,  General  Cobb  being  now  a  patient  in 


94  GENERAL    COBB. 

the  Hospital,  where  he  subsequently  died,  a  bill  of 
Dr.  Channing  for  extra  services  rendered  him  was  re- 
ferred to  the  Visiting  Committee,  who,  after  consulta- 
tion with  Drs,  Jackson  and  Channing,  approved  the 
same.  General  Cobb  was  an  aid  of  Washington's  in 
the  revolutionary  war.  At  the  time  of  Shays's  insur- 
rection, he  was  Chief  Justice-  of  the  Common  Pleas, 
and  Major-General  of  that  division  of  the  militia. 
The  rioters  assembled  to  prevent  the  opening  of  the 
Court.  General  Cobb  addressed  them,  and  closed  his 
remarks  as  follows :  "  Please  God,  I  will  this  day  sit 
as  a  Judge,  or  die  as  a  General." 

Dec.  20,  five  dollars  was  contributed  towards  the 
new  plank  sidewalk  in  Blossom  Street.  There  were, 
on  Dec.  22,  thirty-six  males  and  fifteen  females  — 
total,  fifty-one  —  in  the  Hospital.  Jan.  8,  1830,  the 
Committee  report  that  the  whole  expenditures  at  the 
Asylum  from  1826  are,  for  the  wharf,  |1, 147.32; 
well,  $215.75 ;  and  for  "  general  improvements," 
$96,822.33  r — that  this  expenditure  has  been  "  for 
the  building  called  the  lodge,  or  strong  rooms  ;  for 
the  large  building  connected  with  the  former  building 
for  maizes  ;  a  new  roof  to  the  dwelling-house,  with 
the  addition  of  another  story  to  the  centre  of  it,  and 
great  repairs,  even  to  the  foundation  wall ;  the 
necessary  alterations  in  the  old  building  for  males, 
caused  by  adding  the  new  one  ;    also  new  water-clos- 


IMPROVEMENTS    AT    ASYLUM.  95 

ets,  and  brick  partition-walls,  and  other  improvements 
in  the  former  building  for  males  ;  improvements  in 
the  ventilation  of  the  buildings  both  for  males  and 
females ;  the  addition  of  a  large  wash-room,  new 
kitchen,  and  extensive  cooking  apparatus  ;  for  remov- 
ing the  earth,  forming  and  laying  out  the  grounds, 
erecting  several  buildings  in  the  yard,  and  a  great 
extent  of  fences  in  forming  and  dividing  the  yards." 
The  buildings,  even  now,  with  this  great  expendi- 
ture, were  not  completed.  It  would  seem  probable, 
that  at  least  sixty-five  thousand  dollars  of  the  above 
must  be  assigned  as  the  cost  of  the  addition  to  the 
male  building.  Much  of  the  work  was  varied  from 
time  to  time  when  in  progress,  as  important  objec- 
tions or  improvements  were  suggested.  A  plan  was 
ordered  of  this  new  building,  with  all  its  flues,  &c. 
A  precisely  similar  addition  to  the  female  wing  was 
subsequently  constructed  ;  and,  by  means  of  the  prior 
experience  acquired,  it  cost  but  forty-three  thousand 
five  hundred  dollars. 

Feb.  7,  the  Treasurer  was  authorized  to  consolidate 
all  former  loans  in  a  new  loan  of  fifty  thousand  dol- 
lars, on  pledge  of  the  shares  in  the  Life  Insurance 
Company.  Hon.  Jonathan  Phillips  was  thanked  for 
a  present  of  books  for  the  library.  John  Eraser  Da- 
vis, Esq.,  editor  of  the  "  Patriot,"  was  thanked  for  his 
paper  furnished  for  the  use  of  the  patients.    Feb.  21, 


96  WEDDING    AT    HOSPITAL. 

Mr.  Giirney's  intended  marriage  was  announced,  and 
the  subject  was  referred  to  Dr.  Kobbins  and  the  Visit- 
ing Committee.  Dr.  George  Hayward  was  elected 
to  the  office  of  Junior  Surgeon.  March  21,  Mr.  Gur- 
ney  announced  that  his  intended  wife  had  consented 
to  reside  at  the  Hospital.  The  wedding  was  subse- 
quently celebrated  in  fine  style ;  the  House  Physi- 
cians, &c.,  officiating  as  groomsmen.  Many  patients 
were  present  at  the  wedding  visit.  It  was  a  gay 
scene,  —  one  seldom  witnessed  in  a  Hospital.  Messrs. 
Gray,  Ticknor,  and  the  Secretary  were  appointed  a 
Committee  to  make  an  entirely  new  draft  of  the 
rules  and  regulations  ;  whose  reports  were  accepted, 
May  9  and  23,  for  the  Hospital  and  Asylum  respec- 
tively. They  were  prepared  with  great  care  and 
labor,  each  paragraph  being  discussed  and  considered, 
and  the  whole  being  finally  read  by  the  Trustees,  and 
by  the  Physicians  and  Surgeons.  These  rules 
and  regulations  are  recorded  in  extenso,  occupying 
twenty  pages.  One  important  change  introduced 
was,  that,  though  each  Trustee  should  serve  for  two 
months  on  the  Visiting  Committee,  one  Trustee 
should  go  out  each  month,  so  that  there  should  al- 
ways be  one  member  of  the  Committee  informed  of 
the  existing  state  of  aff'airs.  This  arrangement  has 
always  since  continued.  May  9,  Messrs.  Gray, 
Greene,  and   Hobbins  were    appointed    a   Committee 


JEREMIAH  Belknap's  bequest.  97 

to  prepare  the  annual  report.  This  report  1  have 
never  met  with.  June  24,  there  weve  eighteen 
males  and  thirteen  females  —  total,  thirty-one  —  in 
the  Hospital. 

At  the  annual  meeting,  July  6,  1830,  Hon.  John 
Lowell  retiring  from  the  Presidency,  Gardiner  Greene 
was  elected  in  his  stead,  and  Joseph  Head  was  elect- 
ed Vice-President  in  place  of  Mr.  Greene.  Josiah 
Quincy,  jun.,  was  elected  a  Trustee  in  place  of  Wil- 
liam H.  Gardiner,  Esq. ;  and  the  officers  who  retired 
were  thanked  for  their  faithful  services.  Benjamin 
I).  Greene  and  James  Bowdoin  were  new  Trustees, 
chosen  by  the  Board  of  Visitors  in  August.  Mr. 
Bowdoin  declining,  Hon.  Heman  Lincoln  was  elected 
by  that  Board  in  January,  1831  ;  and,  he  also  de- 
clining, Mr.  George  Bond  was  elected  in  February, 
1831.  Aug.  27,  the  annual  visitation  was  made,  and 
Governor  Lincoln  again  expressed  "  his  entire  satis- 
faction." 

At  a  special  meeting,  Aug.  30,  a  bequest  of  the  late 
Jeremiah  Belknap,  of  ten  thousand  dollars,  invested 
in  an  annuity  in  trust  in  the  Massachusetts  Hospital 
Life  Insurance  Company,  was  communicated  by  his 
sister  and  executrix,  Mary  Belknap  ;  which  was  grate- 
fully accepted,  and  a  free  bed  for  life  was  thereupon 
placed  at  her  disposal.  Dr.  Henry  I.  Bowditch  was 
chosen    House   Physician  for   the   ensuing  year,  on 

13 


98  JOSEPH  lee's  donation. 

nomination  of  Dr.  James  Jackson.  Mr.  Dana,  the 
late  House  Physician,  presented  a  written  certificate 
of  satisfactory  deportment  in  office  from  the  Acting 
Physician.  A  similar  certificate  from  the  Superin- 
tendent was  held  necessary  before  the  Board  felt 
authorized  to  vote  the  annual  grant  of  fifty  dollars, 
pursuant  to  the  rules  and  regulations.  Oct.  5,  Mr. 
Bond  resigned  as  Supervisor ;  and,  on  the  8th,  Mr. 
Columbus  Tyler  was  appointed  his  successor.  After 
the  lapse  of  twenty  years,  he  is  still  one  of  the  most 
valuable  officers  of  the  institution. 

On  Oct.  21,  a  letter  from  Thomas  Lee,  adminis- 
trator of  Francis  Lee,  a  deceased  patient,  was  received 
and  read,  communicating  a  gift  from  his  father,  Jo- 
seph Lee,  Esq.,  sole  heir  of  said  deceased,  of  twenty 
thousand  dollars  for  the  use  of  the  Asylum  ($250  a 
year  for  four  years  to  be  paid  to  Dr.  Wyman).  The 
writer  says  :  "  In  frequent  visits  to  the  Asylum,  dur- 
ing nearly  two  years  that  the  deceased  was  a  patient, 
his  friends  having  become  acquainted  with  the  admi- 
rable provision  made  for  the  alleviation  and  cure  of  one 
of  the  most  severe  afflictions  that  befall  human  nature, 
and  appreciating  the  rare  union  of  the  requisite  qual- 
ities possessed  by  the  present  Superintendent  (Dr. 
Wyman),  believe  that  a  more  appropriate  or  better 
use  cannot  be  made  of  a  portion  of  his  estate,  than  by 
contributing  to  the  support  of  this  well-administered 


JOSEPH  lee's  donation.  99 

and  most  humane  institution.  They  feel  at  the  same 
time  that  they  do  but  carry  into  effect  what  might 
have  been  the  views  of  the  deceased  had  the  power 
been  restored  to  him  of  acting  for  himself.  That  this 
may  long  escape  the  abuses  to  which  the  best  public 
institutions  seem  so  liable,  and  never  want  the  means 
to  accomplish  its  benevolent  ends,  under  the  guard- 
ianship of  those  whose  characters  are  a  pledge  for  the 
faithful  application  of  the  trusts  reposed  in  them,  is 
the  wish  of  the  donor,  and,  gentlemen,  of  yours,"  &c. 
It  was  thereupon  voted  to  accept  this  munificent 
donation ;  and  Messrs.  Lawrence,  Guild,  and  the  Sec- 
retary were  appointed  a  Committee  to  communicate 
to  Mr.  Lee  "  the  grateful  acknowledgments  of  the 
Board." 

This  donation  consisted  of  twelve  shares  in  the 
Eliot  Manufacturing  Company,  and  of  eight  shares  in 
the  Merrimack  Company,  under  the  restriction  not 
to  sell  the  same  for  ten  years,  except  with  the  con- 
sent of  Joseph  Lee,  Esq.  On  Oct.  23,  a  written  an- 
swer, prepared  by  the  Committee,  was  entered  on  the 
records,  signed  by  all  the  Trustees,  and  sent  to  Mr. 
Lee.  Messrs.  Lawrence  and  Francis  were  appointed 
a  Committee  as  to  the  investment  or  expenditure  of 
the  income  of  this  donation.  Dec.  5,  a  letter  was 
received  from  Dr.  Wyman,  declining  the  donation  of 
Mr.  Lee,  on   the  general    and   high-minded   ground 


100  VOTE    AS    TO    MR.    LEE's    DONATION. 

of  the  impropriety  of  receiving  presents  from  any 
boarder  or  his  friends.  The  Committee  reported  that 
a  separate  investment  should  be  made  of  the  income 
of  this  fund  ;  and  that,  when  it  should  be  "  sufficient 
to  defray  the  expense  of  a  solid,  permanent  building, 
the  same  shall  be  erected  at  the  M'Lean  Asylum  for 
the  Insane  in  Charlestown,  and  shall  bear  the  name 
of  the  benevolent  donor." 

On  Dec.  19,  the  Treasurer  was  authorized  to  bor- 
row ten  thousand  dollars  for  four  months.  Dec.  31, 
thirty  males,  eighteen  females  —  total,  forty-eight  — 
in  the  Hospital.  Jan.  30,  1831,  Messrs.  Francis, 
Codman,  and  Lawrence  were  appointed  a  Committee 
respecting  a  Lying-in  Hospital,  in  answer  to  a  com- 
munication from  the  Trustees  of  the  Humane  Society. 
Feb.  13,  at  the  request  of  Mr.  Francis,  he  was  dis 
charged,  and  Mr.  Quincy  substituted  on  said  Commit- 
tee. At  this  meeting,  Messrs.  Francis  and  Lawrence 
were  appointed  a  Committee  to  wait  on  Miss  Mary 
Belknap,  sister  of  Jeremiah  Belknap,  Esq.,  and  on 
the  relatives  of  Joseph  Lee,  Esq.,  to  ask  for  their 
portraits ;  and  said  Committee,  at  the  next  meeting, 
reported  that  "  no  i)ortraits  of  Mr.  Belknap  or  Mr. 
Lee  are  in  possession  of  their  relatives."  On  Feb.  22, 
the  executory  and  devisees  of  the  late  Joseph  Lee 
presented  five  additional  shares  in  the  Eliot* Manu- 
facturing Company,  to  make  up  a  depreciation  in  the 


ITS    FINAL    AMOUNT.  101 

ascertained  value  of  the  twelve  shares  in  said  Com- 
pany originally  given  ;  which  additional  donation  was 
gratefully  received  on  the  same  conditions.  These 
shares  experienced  a  still  further  depreciation,  and 
the  amount  finally  realized  from  the  whole  seven- 
teen thousand  dollars  of  the  Eliot  shares  was  only  one 
thousand  and  eight  dollars.  The  Merrimack  shares, 
however,  paid  very  large  dividends  ;  the  whole  amount 
actually  received,  from  both  sources,  taking  the  Merri- 
mack shares  at  par,  being  $31,681.33.  A  separate 
account  of  this  fund  was  kept  till  1851,  when,  with 
allowance  of  interest  on  the  dividends,  it  exceeded 
forty-five  thousand  dollars.  A  donation  had  mean- 
while been  received  from  Mr.  Appleton,  for  the 
erection  of  a  new  building  at  the  Asylum,  so  that  it 
became  impracticable  to  carry  out  literally  the  .design 
of  the  preceding  votes  ;  and  the  Trustees  proposed  to 
give  the  name  of  Mr.  Lee  to  the  main  building  for 
male  patients,  that  in  which  his  son  died.  The  whole 
subject  was  finally  and  satisfactorily  arranged  at  that 
time. 

On  Feb.  27,  1831,  the  decision  of  the  Supreme 
Judicial  Court  in  regard  to  the  M'Lean  trust-fund 
was  communicated  ;  and  on  April  8,  in  reply  to  a 
request  that  the  Board  would  consent  that  the  fund 
should  be  managed  by  one  Trustee,  the  Board  say : 
"  If  the  will  of  Mr.  M'Lean  requires  the  appointment 


102  RESIGNATION    OF    EBENEZER    FRANCIS. 

of  two  Trustees,  they  cannot,  consistently  with  their 
duty,  acquiesce  in  the  appointment  of  one."  May  8, 
Messrs.  Greene,  Quincy,  and  PhilHps  were  appointed 
to  prepare  the  annual  report ;  and  on  May  22,  Gray 
and  Lawrence  were  substituted  for  Greene  and  Phil- 
lips, who  were  absent.  This  report  is  believed  not 
to  be  extant. 

June  8,  1831,  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Corpo- 
ration, George  Hallet  was  elected  a  Trustee  in  place 
of  Ebenezer  Francis,  Esq.,  who  was  thanked  for  "his 
long,  faithful,  and  peculiarly  valuable  services  as  a 
Trustee  of  this  institution,  to  which  office  he  has 
declined  a  re-election."  July  3,  the  same  immediate 
officers  were  all  re-elected.  July  5,  Edward  Tucker- 
man  was  chosen  Chairman  of  the  Trustees.  July  8, 
Drs.  Jacob  Bigelow,  John  Randall,  George  C.  Shat- 
tuck,  and  Abraham  R.  Thompson,  were  chosen  Con- 
sulting Physicians  ;  and  Drs.  William  Ingalls,  John 
B.  Brown,  John  Dixwell,  and  William  J.  AValker, 
Consulting  Surgeons.  July  24,  Thomas  Sparhawk 
was  elected  House  Physician  ;  and  on  Aug,  21,  Sam- 
uel Swett,  jun..  House  Surgeon.  Sept.  2,  the  annual 
visitation  was  made,  nine  Trustees  being  also  present. 
His  Excellency  Governor  Lincoln  alluded  to  the 
appropriation  for  the  Asylum  at  Worcester,  as  an 
unequivocal  expression  of  public  opinion  that  the 
M'Lean    Asylum    had     been    completely    successful. 


JOHN  P.  CUSHING.  JOHN  C.  GRAY.      103 

Sept.  20,  a  donation  from  John  P.  Gushing,  Esq.,  of 
five  thousand  dollars,  was  received,  and  gratefully 
acknowledged.  Hejoice  Newton,  Esq.,  was  appointed 
agent  to  make  any  arrangement  with  the  executors 
of  Isaiah  Thomas. 

On  Feb.  12,  1832,  communications  from  Dr.  Jack- 
son and  Mr.  Gurney  were  received,  stating  seven 
cases  of  erysipelas  in  the  Hospital,  one  of  which  had 
terminated  fatally  ;  and  the  subject  was  referred  to 
the  Visiting  Committee,  with  full  powers.  They  dis- 
continued all  new  admissions  till  March  5.  Feb.  26, 
a  donation  of  one  thousand  dollars  from  John  C. 
Gray  was  received,  and  suitably  acknowledged.  A 
letter  from  Amos  Lawrence,  Esq.,  resigning  his  office 
of  Trustee  in  consequence  of  illness,  was  received  ; 
and  a  vote  was  passed,  expressing  the  sense  which 
the  Board  had  of  the  value  of  his  services,  and  their 
best  wishes  for  his  restoration  to  health.  April  29, 
Messrs.  Codman,  Gray,  and  Hallet  were  appointed  a 
Committee  to  prepare  the  annual  report ;  but  it  has 
not  been  preserved. 

On  May  17,  Dr.  Wyman  tendered  his  resignation 
on  the  ground  of  ill  health.  The  Chairman,  with 
Messrs.  Hallet  and  Quincy,  were  appointed  a  Com- 
mittee to  confer  with  him,  and  make  any  arrange- 
ment. The  Treasurer  was  ordered  to  pay  five  hundred 
dollars,  voted  Feb.   5,   1826,  to  Dr.  Wyman,  for  his 


104  RESIGNATION    OF    AMOS    LAWRENCE. 

extra  services,  with  interest ;  he  having  never  yet 
received  the  same.  May  20,  a  letter  from  Dr.  Wy- 
man  thanked  the  Trustees  for  the  regard  and  kind- 
ness manifested  towards  him  and  his  family.  The 
Committee  reported  that  Dr.  Wyman  was  to  be  for  a 
time  absent ;  and,  "  believing  that  the  services  of  Dr. 
William  J.  Walker  during  that  time  would  be  highly 
valuable  to  the  institution,"  they  requested  him  "  to 
visit  it  as  often  as  he  could,  consistently  with  his  other 
engagements." 

At  the  annual  meeting,  June  13,  1832,  Abbott 
Lawrence,  Esq.,  was  elected  a  Trustee  in  place  of  his 
brother,  iVmos  Lawrence,  who  was  thanked  "  for  his 
zealous  and  faithful  services  during  several  successive 
years."  The  annual  meeting  was  altered  to  the  fourth 
Wednesday  in  January ;  so  that  the  Trustees  now 
chosen  served  only  about  six  months.  The  Board  of 
Visitors  elected  Thomas  W.  Ward  in  place  of  Jon- 
athan Phillips ;  but,  he  not  accepting,  Samuel  T. 
Armstrong  was  elected  in  August.  The  same  Board 
of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  and  the  same  officers 
were  re-elected.  July  12,  Henry  Codman,  as  Chair- 
man of  a  Committee  to  reply  to  a  communication 
received  from  Hon.  Charles  Wells  the  Mayor,  re- 
ported in  favor  of  receiving  cholera  patients  in  the 
Hospital,  in  case  the  City  Hospital,  specially  prepared, 
should  be  filled,  and  not  otherwise. 


DR.  WYMAN.  105 

July   17,  it  was  voted   that  a  Matron  be  employed 
at    the   Asylum    during   the   illness   of  Dr.   Wyman. 
At  a  special  meeting,  Aug.  1,  Dr.  Wyman  again  re- 
quested the  Trustees  to  accept  his  resignation  ;  and 
the   Visiting   Committee   were   instructed   to   make   a 
report  on    the    next  day.     Mr.  Lyman   Bartlett  was 
chosen  House  Physician ;  and  Mr.  James  B.  Greger- 
son,  House  Apothecary.     Aug.  2,  Dr.  Wyman's  resig- 
nation   was   accepted    (with  the  view,   doubtless,    of 
relieving  him  from  his  feeling  of  responsibility)  ;  he 
still  to  reside  at   the  Asylum.      Dr.  Walker  was  re 
quested  to  continue  his  services.      Aug.  23,  the  salary 
of  the  Physician  and  Superintendent  at  Asylum  was 
to  be   henceforth  twelve  hundred  dollars.     Aug.  27, 
Mr.   John  Odin,  jun.,   was   chosen    House    Surgeon. 
Aug.  f31,  the   annual  visitation  was  made  by  his  Ex- 
cellency Governor  Lincoln  and  the  Board  of  Visitors. 
Sept.    19,  the  duties  of  Physician  and  Superintend- 
ent were  ordered  to  be  separated.     Dr.  Wyman  was 
elected   Physician,  with  a   salary,  fixed   at   the   next 
meeting,  of  fifteen  hundred  dollars.      In  other  words, 
he  was  so  highly  appreciated  that  the  Board  thought 
themselves  fortunate  in  securing  his  services  for  one 
only    of  the    offices,   at    a    price    greater   than   they 
believed  those   of  any  other  person  could  be  worth 
who  should  fill  both  situations. 

And  now  was  communicated  to  the  Board  the  most 

14 


106         MISS   BELK^\\P'S    BEQUEST. JOSEPH    HEAD. 

magnificent  bequest,  "with  one  single  exception,  which 
has  ever  been  bestowed  upon  it.  Messrs.  John  and 
Andrew  E.  Belknap,  and  Joseph  Head,  jun.,  execu- 
tors of  the  will  of  Miss  Mary  Belknap,  then  re- 
cently deceased,  presented  a  copy  of  her  will,  making 
this  Corporation  her  residuary  devisee.  This  residue 
amounted  to  $88,602.  It  was  most  gratefully  ac- 
cepted by  the  Trustees. 

The  extent  to  which  this  Board  is  indebted  to  the 
good  will  and  kind  offices  of  the  late  Joseph  Head, 
may  be  inferred  from  the  following  facts.  There 
existed  between  him  and  the  late  Jeremiah  Bel- 
knap, Esq.,  the  most  intimate  friendship.  He  had 
unbounded  influence  over  him,  and  gladly  directed 
his  bounty,  and  eventually  that  of  his  sister,  towards 
this  institution,  as  he  had  formerly  done  in  the  case 
of  Thomas  Oliver.  There  is  no  one,  indeed,  whose 
portrait  is  better  entitled  to  a  place  at  the  Hospital, 
among  the  ranks  of  its  chief  benefactors  and  most 
faithful  officers,  than  that  of  Mr.  Head.  It  is  a 
curious  fact  that  a  portrait  of  Mr.  Belknap  was 
painted  for  the  Hospital  by  the  late  Henry  Sargent, 
from  looking  at  Mr.  Head.  Mr.  Belknap  and  Mr. 
Head,  at  a  certain  hour  of  each  day,  often  walked  to- 
gether ;  and  Mr.  Sargent,  to  refresh  his  recollection 
of  how  Mr.  Belknap  used  to  look,  was  in  the  habit 
of  going   out   and  meeting   Mr.  Head  when  he  was 


MR.  Belknap's  portrait.  107 

walking  alone,  that  his  imagination  and  his  pencil 
might  be  thus  aided  in  recalling  the  features  of  Mr. 
Head's  former  companion.  The  likeness  is  by  no 
means  perfect ;  yet,  I  think,  all  who  knew  Mr.  Bel- 
knap would  feel  sure  that  it  was  intended  for  him. 

On  Oct.  3,  Captain  Luke  Bigelow,  of  Lancaster, 
was  chosen  Superintendent,  with  a  salary  of  seven 
hundred  dollars.  Oct  9,  Mr.  Rufus  Wyman,  jun., 
was  requested  to  act  until  his  arrival.  Oct.  21,  an 
extra  grant  was  made  to  Mr.  Tyler  for  his  services 
during  Dr.  Wyman's  illness,  and  his  salary  was  raised 
to  a  thousand  dollars.  On  the  nomination  of  Dr. 
Wyman,  Miss  Mary  Sawyer,  of  Stirling,  was  appointed 
to  the  new  office  of  Supervisor  of  the  female  depart- 
ment. She  subsequently  married  Mr.  Tyler,  and  is 
now  the  efficient,  or  I  may  rather  say  truly  admira- 
ble matron  of  the  establishment.  New  rules  and 
regulations  at  the  Asylum,  as  modified  by  the  late 
changes  of  offices,  &c.,  were  adopted  at  this  meeting, 
and  recorded. 

On  Nov.  4,  the  executors  of  Miss  Belknap  trans- 
mitted a  list  of  the  residuary  property,  amounting  to 
$72,852  in  personal  estate.  Land  and  buildings, 
Nos.  26  and  28,  Washington  Street,  then  valued  at 
$12,000;  ditto,  73,  Broad  Street,  valued  at  $3,750; 
making  the  total  of  $88,602.  The  Broad-street  Estate 
was    sold   in    1834    to   Samuel   Sanford   for  $4,700. 


108  AMOUNT    OF    MISS     BELKNAP's    BEQUEST. 

The  greatly  increased  value  of  the  Washington-street 
Estate,  which  is  still  owned  by  the  Corporation,  makes 
the  total  bequest  at  least  one  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars. The  Board  voted  that  a  bond  of  indemnity 
should  be  delivered  to  the  executors  on  the  transfer 
of  this  property,  and  a  full  receipt  and  discharge 
given  to  Iheir  satisfaction.  Nov.  18,  Dr.  Robbins  was 
appointed  a  Committee  of  advisement  for  the  Treas- 
urer, in  regard  to  the  sale  and  disposition  of  the 
property  thus  received. 

On  Dec.  14,  Dr.  Robbins,  as  Visiting  Committee, 
recommended  greater  vigilance  in  admitting  as  pa- 
tients those  persons  who  ought  to  go  to  South  Bos- 
ton,—  a  most  important  suggestion.  Dec.  16,  Dr. 
William  J.  Walker  having  "  visited  at  the  Asylum, 
during  seven  months,  four  or  five  times  each  week," 
the  Trustees  request  his  acceptance  of  six  hundred 
dollars  as  a  small  acknowledgment,  on  the  part  of  this 
Board,  of  the  zeal  and  fidelity  with  which  he  dis- 
charged the  duties  of  Physician  and  Superintendent 
during  the  illness  of  Dr.  Wyman.  One  hundred 
dollars  was  also  granted  to  Dr.  D.  Davis,  the  resident 
assistant,  for  his  services  at  this  period. 

Mr.  Francis  informs  me,  that  one  of  the  young 
medical  men  selected  to  assist  Dr.  Wyman  in  keeping 
his  accounts  (several  years  before  this  period)  received 
the    appointment,    principally   because   the    Trustees 


STATE    OF    THE    INSTITUTION.  109 

Avere  delighted  with  his  letter  of  application,  which 
was  the  most  exquisite  specimen  of  penmanship 
that  they  had  ever  beheld.  He  entered  on  his  duties, 
and  was  found  to  write  a  most  illegible  hand.  He 
was  asked  whether  that  letter  was  his  own  unaided 
composition.  He  replied  that  it  was.  "  But,"  added 
he,  "  I  did  not  write  it,  —  1  painted  it."  It  was,  in- 
deed, the  elaborate  production  of  an  artist^  executed 
with  great  delicacy  by  means  of  a  hair-pencil. 

The  Treasurer  presented  the  following  exhibit  of 
the  property  of  the  institution  : — 

Turnpike  shares $200.00 

Life-office  stock 50,000.00 

Trust-policy  under  will  of  William  Phillips     ....  5,000.00 

„       Jeremiah  Belknap  ....  10,000.00 

Joseph  Lee's  donation,  estimated  at 20,000.00 

Mary  Belknap's  legacy 88,602.00 

A  note 167.91 


$173,969.91 
Debts  due 61,000.00 

Leaving $112,969.91 

The  general  receipts  are  stated  as  follows  :  — 

Donations  and  legacies $411,927.73 

Thomas  Oliver's  legacy  (subject  to  $1,300  annuity)  .  .     22,938.70 

Donation  of  Joseph  Lee  and  accumulation  of  do.     .  .     22,140.00 

Received  on  account  of  Isaiah  Thomas's  bequest       .  .       1,307.00 

$458,313.43 


no  MARGARET    TUCKER. DR.  WALKER. 

The  permanent  expenditures,  as  follows  :  — 

Land  and  buildings  of  Hospital  in  Boston     $144,498.91 
„       „         „  of  M' Lean  Asylum     .     188,422.22 

332,921.13 

Balance       $125,3?>2.30 

Board  of  free  patients  from  1822  to  1832,  estimated 

at  $3  per  week $36,590.25 

Donations  for  free  beds,  including  income  of  the 
bequests  of  Wm.  Phillips  and  Jeremiah  Belknap 
for  that  object,  since  1822 29,405.94 

Balance $7,184.31 

Income  for  1833  estimated  at  $12,547, 
Expenditures  „  „         at     11,040. 

On  Dec.  30,  Messrs.  Greene,  Quincy,  and  Bond 
were  appointed  a  Committee  to  prepare  the  annual 
report.  Jan.  8,  1833,  a  bequest  of  Miss  Margaret 
Tucker  of  $2,600,  for  perpetual  support  of  a  free 
bed  at  the  Hospital,  was  announced  and  gratefully 
accepted.     It  was  not  paid  over  till  1842. 

Jan.  1 1 ,  it  was  ordered  that  no  free  beds  should  be 
occupied  by  the  same  persons  over  three  months, 
except  on  special  vote  of  the  Trustees, 

Jan.  20,  a  letter  from  Dr.  William  J.  Walker  was 
received  and  read,  expressing  his  gratitude  for  the 
favorable  opinion  entertained  by  the  Board  and  for 
the  liberal  compensation  voted  him,  and  requesting 
their  acceptance  of  a  donation  of  four  hundred  dollars. 
The  Secretary  was  directed  to  assure  Dr.  Walker  of 


DR.   WYMAIS'S    DEVOTEDNESS.  Ill 

the  high  gratification  afforded  to  the  Trustees  by  this 
new  proof  of  his  regard,  for  the  institution. 

The  annual  report  for  this  year,  signed  by  Mr. 
Tuckerman  the  Chairman,  also  by  the  Committee,  is 
about  six  pages  long.  It  states  the  interesting  fact, 
that  Dr.  Wyman  had  for  fourteen  years  passed  only 
five  nights  away  from  the  Asylum,  and  the  measures 
taken  to  lighten  his  duties,  and  thus  restore  his 
health ;  alludes  to  the  numerous  recent  proofs  of 
public  confidence,  and  the  noble  donation  of  Miss 
Belknap  ;  and  suggests  (what  has  since  been  exe- 
cuted) that,  whenever  an  additional  wing  shall  be 
erected  for  female  patients,  "  it  would  be  a  compli- 
ment signally  appropriate  to  give  the  name  of  this 
great  benefactress  to  that  part  of  the  establishment 
which  is  particularly  devoted  to  the  benefit  of  her 
sex  ;  "  but  states  that  the  erection  of  such  a  building 
now  would  absorb  the  whole  funds  of  the  institution. 
It  speaks  of  the  valuable  services  and  the  gratifying 
donation  of  Dr.  Walker. 

The  result  of  this  period  is,  that  during  no  pre- 
vious term  of  five  years  had  the  donations  been  more 
numerous  or  munificent.  There  had  been  received 
bequests  from  the  late  William  Phillips,  Jeremiah 
Belknap,  and  his  sister  Miss  Mary  Belknap,  Joseph 
Lee  and  his  devisees,  Miss  Margaret  Tucker,  and 
Isaiah  Thomas  ;  and  donations  from  John  P.  Cushing, 


112  PROSPERITY    OF    THE    INSTITUTION. 

John  C.  Gray,  Thomas  B.  Wales,  Henry  Codman, 
Dr.  William  J.  Walker,  &c.,  —  which,  in  the  aggre- 
gate, amounted  to  nearly  a  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand dollars. 

A  hundred  thousand  dollars  had  been  expended  in 
improvements  at  the  Asylum,  and  a  debt  of  sixty 
thousand  dollars  contracted  in  making  these  improve- 
ments. But  it  was  forthwith  to  be  paid  off  out  of 
the  more  recent  of  the  donations  just  received.  The 
pecuniary  position  of  the  institution  at  this  time  is 
exactly  stated  in  the  summary  in  the  preceding  page. 
The  institution  still  retained,  at  the  head  of  its  two 
departments,  the  services  of  Dr.  Wyman  and  of  Mr. 
Gurney.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Tyler  had  become  officers  of 
the  Asylum.  The  same  medical  and  surgical  staff 
continued  to  discharge  their  duties.  The  narrow 
escape  of  the  Hospital  from  destruction  by  fire  was 
not  the  least  of  the  fortunate  events  of  this  period. 

The  number  of  patients  in  the  Hospital  was,  at  the 
close  of  this  year,  thirty-two  males,  twenty  females,  — 
total,  fifty-two ;  and,  at  the  Asylum,  twenty-seven 
males,  twenty-four  females,  —  total,  fifty-one.  Thus 
the  usefulness  and  reputation  of  the  institution  had 
continued  steadily  to  increase  ;  and  it  had  attained  to 
a  degree  of  prosperity  which  must  have  been  highly 
gratifying  alike  to  its  original  founders  and  to  those 
who  now  had  its  management  and  control. 


113 


CHAPTER     VI. 

1833-1837. 

Death  of  Gardiner  Greene,  President.  —  Resignation  op  Mr.  Gur- 
net.—  Choice  of  Gamaliel  Bradford.  —  Final  Resignation  of  Dr. 
Wyman,  and  Choice  of  Dr.  Thomas  G.  Lee,  —  Columbus  Tyler 
elected  Steward  of  Asylum.  —  Services  of  Mrs.  Tyler.  — 
Bequest  of  Jonathan  Moseley.  —  Portrait  of  Thomas  Oliver. — 
Resignation  of  Joseph  Head,  President.  —  George  Bond,  Chair- 
man.—  Diet  at  Hospital.  —  Free  Beds  for  Life.  —  Bequest  of 
Miss  Susan  Richardson. — Piano-forte  and  Billiard  Table  at 
Asylum.  —  Trustees' Meeting  :  Nobody  Present.  —  Death  of  Dr. 
Lee,  and  Votes  of  Trustees.  —  Dr.  Luther  V.  Bell  elected  his 
Successor. —  Colored  Patient.  —  Interesting  Report  of  S.  A. 
Eliot  on  occasion  of  Non-observance  of  Rules  and  Regula- 
tions.—  Resignation  of  Dr.  James  Jackson:  his  Character  and 
Services.  —  Resignation  of  Mr.  Russell  the  Treasurer,  and 
Choice  of  Henry'  Andrews. —  Summary.  —  Great  Changes  of 
•  the  Officers.  —  Donations  only  a  Thousand  Dollars  for  the 
Five  Years. 

At  the  annual  meeting,  Jan.  23,  1833,  it  was  voted, 
"■  Tiiat  this  Corporation  entertain  a  grateful  recollec- 
tion of  the  zealous  and  faithful  services  of  the  late 
Gardiner  Greene,  Esq.,  in  the  offices  of  a  Trustee  and 
President  of  this  institution  ;  "  also  voted,  "  That  the 
thanks  of  this  Corporation  be  presented  to  Joseph 
Coolidge,  Esq.,  who,  for  many  successive  years,  from 
the  first  establishment  of  the  institution  to  the  present 
time,  has  held  the  office  of  a  Trustee,  discharging  his 
duties  with  the  utmost  zeal  and  fidelity,  and  to  which 

15 


114  WINDOWS    OVER    HOSPITAL    GARDEN. 

office  he  has  declined  a  re-election."  Francis  J.  Oli- 
ver, Esq.,  Avas  elected  by  the  Board  of  Visitors  a  Trus- 
tee in  the  place  of  Mr.  Coolidge,  and  the  Board  was 
organized  as  follows :  Joseph  Head,  President ;  Ebe- 
nezer  Francis,  Vice-President ;  Nathaniel  P.  Kussell, 
Treasurer  ;  Nathaniel  I.  Bowditch,  Secretary.  Henry 
Codman,  Francis  C.  Gray,  Benjamin  Guild,  George 
Hallet,  Abbott  Lawrence,  Josiah  Quincy,jun.,  Edward 
H.  Robbins,  and  Edward  Tuckerman,  Trustees,  on  the 
part  of  the  Corporation  ;  and  Samuel  T.  Armstrong, 
George  Bond,  Benjamin  D.  Greene,  and  Francis  J. 
Oliver,  Trustees,  on  the  part  of  the  Board  of  Visitors. 
Feb.  17,  all  the  medical  and  other  officers  of  the  last 
year  were  re-elected. 

Richard  S.  Roberts  applied  for  leave  to  remove  a 
blind  placed  against  the  window  of  his  house  in  Fruit 
Court,  overlooking  the  Hospital  Garden.  March  3, 
William  B.  Shaw  was  appointed  Apothecary,  and 
Rufus  Wyman,  jun.,  Clerk  at  the  Asylum.  July  5, 
Mr.  Roberts  was  allowed  to  have  a  window  with  a 
reversed  blind.  Aug.  11,  Dr.  F.  H.  Gray  was  ap- 
pointed House  Physician  ;  and,  on  Sept.  8,  Dr.  Henry 
Tuck,  House  Surgeon ;  Mr.  Benjamin  F.  Parker, 
House  Apothecary. 

On  Sept.  13,  Nathan  Gurney,  Esq.,  tendered  his 
resignation  as  Superintendent  of  the  Hospital,  to  take 
effect  in  November  next.     This  resignation  was  ac- 


MR.  gurnet's  resignation.  115 

cepted ;  and  it  was  voted,  "  That,  in  accepting  this 
resignation,  the  Trustees  would  express  to  Mr.  Gur- 
ney  their  sense  of  the  zeal  and  ability  with  which  he 
has  discharged  the  duties  of  his  office,  and  their  regret 
that  his  valuable  services  must  cease  in  so  short  a 
time.  They  have  seen  his  energy,  decision,  and 
good  judgment ;  his  kindness  and  attention  to  the 
patients  ;  his  skill  and  economy  in  managing  the  con- 
cerns of  the  establishment,  and  the  order,  regularity, 
and  neatness  which  have  always  been  preserved  there  ; 
and  they  have  esteemed  themselves  fortunate  in  the 
selection  of  one  who  united  in  so  high  a  degree  the 
various  qualifications  for  the  situation,  and  who,  with 
the  power,  possessed  also  the  disposition,  to  promote 
the  best  interests  of  the  department  of  the  institution 
confided  to  his  care.  The  trustees  would  therefore 
assure  Mr.  Gurney,  that  they  have  always  been  entirely 
satisfied  with  his  efforts  in  their  cause,  and  that  he 
will  retire  from  office  with  their  best  wishes  for  his 
future  happiness."  Mr.  Gurney  subsequently  became 
an  alderman  of  the  city  of  Boston,  and  died,  not  long 
since,  one  of  our  most  highly-respected  citizens. 

On  Oct.  8,  Benjamin  D.  Greene,  Esq.,  resigned  his 
situation  as  a  Trustee,  in  view  of  an  intended  absence 
in  Europe.  He  was,  however,  re-elected  the  ensuing 
year.  Oct.  11,  all  the  Board  were  present  except  Mr. 
Codman,  who  was  ill.     Gamaliel  Bradford,  M.D.,was 


116  GAMALIEL    BRADFORD,    SUPERINTENDENT. 

unanimously  elected  Superintendent  of  the  Hospital. 
The  Belknap  Estate  in  Washington  Street  was  leased 
for  ten  years  at  a  rent  of  nine  hundred  dollars. 
It  was  at  first  rented  for  seven  hundred  dollars.  It 
has  since  been  rebuilt,  and  rents  for  fifteen  hundred 
dollars.  Dec.  1,  where  a  patient  remains  less  than 
one  day,  one  dollar  is  to  be  charged.  Dec.  15,  the 
Chairman,  Messrs.  Oliver,  Codman,  and  the  Visiting 
Committee,  were  desired  to  consider  the  expediency 
of  erecting  a  new  building  at  the  Asylum.  Dec.  23, 
Messrs.  Gray,  Quincy,  and  Bond  were  appointed  a 
Committee  to  draw  up  the  annual  report. 

This  report  was  prepared  by  Josiah  Quincy,  jun., 
as  Chairman,  and  occupied  nine  pages  ;  and,  with  the 
documents  annexed,  makes  a  pamphlet  of  twenty- 
three  pages.  It  gives  a  detailed  and  very  interesting  * 
and  satisfactory  account  of  both  departments  of  the 
Hospital ;  states  the  invested  property  of  the  institu- 
tion to  be  $113,750,  —  including,  however,  the  Eliot 
shares  of  seventeen  thousand  dollars,  which  realized 
but  a  thousand  and  eight,  so  that  the  actual  amount 
is  a  hundred  and  two  or  a  hundred  and  three  thou- 
sand dollars  ;  shows  that  its  annual  expenses  render 
it  still  in  need  of  continued  assistance  and  support ; 
alludes  to  the  prominent  events  of  the  year ;  speaks 
of  the  "  universal  satisfaction  "  given  by  Mr.  Gurney  ; 
and  mentions  the  election  of  Dr.  Bradford,  "  who  has 


RESULTS    AT    ASYLUM.  117 

given  pledges  of  being  entitled  to  the  high  praise  of 
fully  supplying  the  place  of  his  predecessor."  The 
number  of  patients  in  the  Hospital  at  the  close  of  the 
year  were  twenty-seven  males,  twenty-four  females,  — 
total,  fifty-one  ;  in  the  Asylum,  forty  males,  twenty- 
four  females,  —  total,  sixty-four.  It  contains  a  table 
of  all  the  admissions  at  the  Asylum,  viz. :  In  1818, 
nine;  in  1819,  twenty-six  ;  1820,  twenty-eight ;  1821, 
thirty-three;  1822,  forty-five;  1823,  thirty-nine; 
1824,  thirty-three  ;  1825,  twenty-nine  ;  1826,  twenty- 
three  ;  1827,  thirty-one;  1828,  forty-eight;  1829, 
thirty-seven;  1830,  forty-seven;  1831,  forty-five; 
1832,  sixty-five;  1833,  sixty-six:  total,  1,015,  with 
various  tables,  showing  proportions  of  recoveries,  &c.  ; 
the  total  of  those  removed  in  that  period  being  948, 
out  of  which  362  were  recovered. 

Jan.  8,  1834,  the  Board  express  great  satisfaction 
with  the  services  of  Miss  Sawyer  [Mrs.  Tyler],  and 
raised  her  salary  to  two  hundred  dollars.  A  memorial 
from  the  Physicians  and  Surgeons  as  to  a  new  build- 
ing or  wing  at  the  Hospital  was  received  and  referred. 
Eleven  years  afterwards,  such  a  building  was  erected. 
Jan.  19,  Mr.  Hallet  resigned  his  seat  as  a  Trustee. 

At  the  annual  meeting,  Jan.  29,  Charles  G.  Loring 
and  Samuel  A.  Eliot,  Esqs.,  were  chosen  Trustees  in 
place  of  George  Hallet  and  Benjamin  Guild,  Esqs., 
who  had  resigned,  and  who  were  thanked  for  their 


118  JONATHAN    MOSELEY's    BEQUEST. 

zealous  and  faithful  services.  Jan.  23,  the  Board  of 
Medical  and  Surgical  Officers,  and  the  heads  of  the  two 
departments,  were  re-elected ;  Henry  A.  True  being 
Apothecary  at  the  Asylum.  On  March  9,  Mr.  Luke 
Bigelow  resigned  his  office  as  Superintendent  of  the 
Asylum.  April  16,  Messrs.  Tuckerman  and  Quincy 
were  appointed  a  Committee  on  the  subject  of  any 
new  arrangements  at  that  institution,  who  on  May  18 
made  a  report,  which  was  accepted.  This  directs  that 
the  head  of  the  institution  be  known  as  the  Physi- 
cian and  Superintendent ;  that  an  Assistant  Physician 
be  chosen,  with  a  salary  of  seven  hundred  dollars  ; 
and  likewise  a  Steward,  having  the  salary  heretofore 
paid  to  the  Superintendent.  Luke  Bigelow  was  then 
elected  Steward  ;  and  Dr.  Thomas  G.  Lee,  of  Hart- 
ford, Assistant  Physician. 

On  July  8,  the  Secretary  was  appointed  a  Com- 
mittee to  look  into  the  title  of  the  Corporation  to  land 
bought  of  Mr.  Joy,  and  to  confer  with  Mr.  Loring 
respecting  measures  which  may  be  thought  necessary 
to  procure  a  release  of  the  condition  contained  in  the 
deed.  It  was  found  impracticable  to  get  a  release 
executed  at  this  time.  July  11,  the  application  of 
Eliza  Bryant  for  leave  to  erect  a  building  on  Fruit 
Street,  with  windows  opening  on  the  Hospital-ground, 
was  declined.  A  copy  of  the  will  of  Jonathan  Mose- 
ley,  making  this  Corporation  residuary  legatee,  was 


DUTIES    OF    OFFICERS    AT    HOSPITAL.  119 

received  ;  and  a  legacy,  informally  given  by  a  codicil, 
was  confirmed.  July  11,  Lieutenant-Governor  Arm- 
strong resigned  his  office  of  Trustee,  and  was  thanked 
by  the  Board  for  his  valuable  services. 

On  July  20,  a  very  elaborate  and  excellent  report 
from  Mr.  Eliot  was  entered  on  the  records,  defining 
the  relative  duties  of  the  Superintendent  and  of  the 
Physicians,  &c.,  of  the  Hospital.  It  concludes  thus: 
"  Much  must  be  left  to  the  discretion  of  those  who 
hold  responsible  stations  ;  and,  having  expressed  their 
general  views  of  the  subject,  —  having  stated,  as  it 
were,  their  theory  of  the  government  of  the  insti- 
tution, —  the  Trustees  must  leave  the  application  of 
them  to  the  good  sense  and  good  feelings  of  the  pres- 
ent incumbents,  with  the  single  intimation,  that  they 
consider  harmony  of  action  in  the  officers  essential  to 
the  prosperity  of  the  Hospital."  Copies  of  this  report 
were  ordered  to  be  transmitted  to  the  Superintendent 
and  to  the  Medical  and  Surgical  Officers. 

On  Aug.  17,  Mr.  Estes  Howe  was  elected  House 
Physician,  and  Aug.  31,  Mr.  Stephen  Salisbury, 
House  Surgeon  for  the  year  ensuing.  Oct.  10,  Mrs. 
Lee,  the  widow  of  the  late  John  M'Lean,  having 
deceased,  the  Treasurer  was  authorized  to  receive  a 
transfer  of  the  property  now  belonging  to  the  Corpo- 
ration, which  had  been  held  in  trust  during  her  life. 
Nov.  23,  Luke  Bigelow  resigned  the  office  of  Steward 


120  DR.  wyman's  resignation. 

at  the  Asylum.  Dec.  21,  Messrs.  Greene,  Codman, 
and  Olivier  were  appointed  a  Committee  to  prepare 
the  annual  report.  Of  this  report  I  do  not  possess  a 
copy.  Mr.  William  Wyman  was  elected  Steward  of 
the  Asylum.  Mr.  Wyman  was  a  very  intelligent  man 
and  efficient  officer.  He  has  since  been  a  representa- 
tive from  the  town  of  Cambridge.  He  has  always 
taken  great  interest  in  the  institution.  The  estate  in 
Broad  Street,  devised  by  Miss  Belknap,  was  ordered 
to  be  sold  by  the  Treasurer. 

On  Jan.  9,  1835,  —  "  whereas  Dr.  Wyman  has  re- 
peatedly and  earnestly  requested  to  be  relieved  from 
his  arduous  and  responsible  duties  as  soon  as  the 
interests  of  the  M'Lean  Asylum  will  admit,  and  tlie 
Trustees  feel  it  a  duty  to  him  to  fix  a  time  for  his 
retirement,  in  order  to  give  liim  an  opportunity  to 
make  suitable  arrangements  for  the  future,  —  voted, 
that  his  resignation  be  respectfully  accepted,  to  take 
effect  on  May  1  next.  Voted,  that,  in  consideration  of 
his  long,  zealous,  and  unwearied  exertions  during  six- 
teen years,  —  in  the  commencement  of  an  institution 
then  novel  in  this  part  of  the  country,  and  in  con- 
ducting it  to  its  present  prosperous  state,  —  the  sum 
of  one  thousand  dollars  be  granted  to  him  and  paid 
by  the  Treasurer:"  and,  on  Jan.  16,  Dr.  Thomas  G. 
Lee,  Assistant  Physician,  was  promoted  to  his  post, 
with  the  same  salary  and  privileges  as  had  been  en- 


DR.    LEE. HENRY    ANDREWS.  121 

joyed  by  his  predecessor  ;  and  he  was  requested  "  not 
to  confine  himself  too  strictly  to  his  duties,  or  debar 
himself  from  the  enjoyment  of  social  intercourse  with 
his  friends,  or  to  neglect  that  occasional  relaxation  by 
which  his  health  may  be  improved  and  preserved." 
Mr.  Columbus  Tyler  was  promoted  to  the  office  of 
Steward,  which  he  still  so  acceptably  continues  to 
hold. 

At  the  annual  meeting,  Jan.  28,  Henry  Andrews, 
Esq.,  was  elected  Treasurer.  It  was  voted,  "  That  the 
thanks  of  this  Corporation  be  presented  to  Hon.  N.  P. 
Russell,  who,  for  fourteen  years  past,  has  gratuitously 
discharged  the  duties  of  Treasurer  of  this  institution, 
with  great  zeal,  ability,  and  usefulness  ;  he  having 
declined  a  re-election  to  that  office."  It  was  also 
voted,  "  That  the  thanks  of  this  Corporation  be  pre- 
sented to  Henry  Codman,  Esq.,  who  has  declined  a 
re-election  as  Trustee  ;  he  having,  in  that  office  and  in 
the  office  of  Secretary,  been  connected  with  the  insti- 
tution for  eighteen  years  past,  and  having  always 
promoted  its  interests  with  the  greatest  zeal  and 
fidelity."  Dr.  Wyman  was  then  elected  a  Trustee  in 
the  place  of  Mr.  Codman  ;  but,  he  being  present  at  the 
meeting  and  declining,  Thomas  B.  Curtis,  Esq.,  was 
elected.  John  P.  Thorndike,  Esq.,  was  elected  a 
Trustee  by  the  Board  of  Visitors,  in  the  place  of  Mr. 
Armstrong.     It  was  also  voted,  "  That  the  thanks  of 

16 


122  TOTE    RESPECTING    DR.    WTMAN. 

this  Corporation  be  presented  by  their  Secretary  to 
Dr.  Rufus  Wyman  for  the  zeal,  ability,  and  faithful- 
ness with  which,  from  the  establishment  of  the 
M'Lean  Asylum  for  the  Insane,  he  has  filled  the 
office  of  Physician  and  Superintendent,  with  the  assur- 
ance that  this  Corporation  feel  bound  to  declare  that 
these  qualities  have  mainly  contributed  to  raise  the 
reputation  of  the  institution  to  its  present  respectable 
standing,  and  have  equally  elevated  his  own  character 
in  his  profession  and  as  a  philanthropist." 

On  Feb.  8,  the  same  officers  of  the  two  institutions, 
and  Visiting  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  were  re-elected  ; 
Drs.  George  B.  Doane  and  Solomon  D.  Townsend 
being  elected  Consulting  Surgeons  in  place  of  Drs.  In- 
galls  and  Dixwell.  March  22,  certain  changes  were 
made  in  the  duties  of  the  Physicians  and  Surgeons, 
in  accordance  with  a  report  of  Messrs.  Quincy,  Eliot, 
and  Robbins,  a  Committee  to  whom  had  been  referred 
a  communication  from  Dr.  James  Jackson.  April  26, 
the  Treasurer  was  authorized  to  overdraw  one  thou- 
sand dollars  at  the  Suffolk  Bank.  Renewed  discus- 
sions were  had,  as  to  a  new  building  at  the  Hospital 
and  at  the  Asylum,  at  this  and  the  next  meetings. 
May  17,  Charles  K.  Whipple  was  chosen  Apothecary 
at  the  Hospital ;  and  Dr.  J.  B.  S.  Jackson,  Assistant 
Physician. 

On  July  7,  the  widow  of  Mr.  Oliver  being  deceased. 


THOMAS  Oliver's  portrait.  123 

certain  final  payments  of  legacies  were  ordered,  and  a 
full  discharge  directed  to  be  given  to  his  executors. 
Oct.  4,  Mr.  Eliot  was  requested  to  report  plans  and 
estimates  of  a  new  building  at  the  Asylum ;  and,  on 
the  25th,  he  was  authorized  to  engage  the  services  of 
Mr.  M'Allister  for  the  erection  of  the  same.  Nov.  8, 
it  was  voted  that  the  thanks  of  the  Board  be  presented 
to  the  executors  of  Mrs.  Prescott  for  .the  portrait  of 
their  late  distinguished  benefactor,  Thomas  Oliver, 
Esq.  Mrs.  Prescott  was  his  widow  ;  and  the  portrait 
thus  given  is  in  the  Trustees'  room  at  the  Hospital. 
It  is  not  a  fine  painting,  and  is  said  not  to  be  a  very 
good  likeness.  It  is,  however,  valuable  as  being  a 
portrait  taken  from  life,  of  and  for  himself,  and  the 
only  one  which  has  been  preserved. 

Nov.  22,  Mr.  Homer  Goodhue  was  chosen  Super- 
visor, of  which  post  he  has  always  continued  to 
discharge  the  duties  in  a  most  acceptable  manner. 
Messrs.  Eliot  and  Thorndike  were  appointed  the 
Building  Committee  for  the  new  building  at  the  Asy- 
lum, and  twenty-eight  thousand  dollars  placed  at  their 
disposal.  Dec.  6,  the  salary  of  the  Superintendent 
of  the  Hospital  was  increased  from  five  to  six  hun- 
dred dollars  ;  this  arrangement  to  include  the  present 
year.  On  Jan.  8,  1836,  Messrs.  Gray,  Eliot,  and 
Quincy  were  appointed  a  Committee  to  draw  up  the 
annual  report. 


124  LAST    REPORT    OF    DR.    LEE. 

The  report,  as  prepared  by  Mr.  Gray,  had  in  a  strik- 
ing degree  the  merit  of  brevity.  It  was  one  sentence 
of  six  lines,  purporting,  without  any  comment,  to 
present  certain  annexed  reports  from  the  two  depart- 
ments of  the  institution.  Among  these  documents, 
however,  was  a  very  important  and  vakiable  one  from 
Dr.  Lee,  describing  minutely  the  system  of  occupation, 
diversion,  and  moral  management  at  the  Asylum  ;  the 
Belknap  Sewing  Society  ;  the  weekly  dancing  parties  ; 
the  religious  service  on  the  Sabbath,  &c.  Of  his  assist- 
ants  he  says  :  "  We  will  not  continue  any  male  or  female 
attendant  whom  we  cannot  invite  into  our  family,  seat 
at  our  table,  and  with  whom  we  could  not  confidently 
place  our  own  wives,  sisters,  and  brothers.  We  do 
not  consider  their  service  as  servile  :  they  are  the 
companions  of  the  unfortunate,  engaged  in  the  same 
employments  as  ourselves  ;  they  shall  command  our 
friendship  and  respect."  He  adds,  "  I  ask  not  for  the 
institution  or  myself  more  devoted  fellow-laborers." 
The  whole  forms  a  pamphlet  of  twenty-seven  pages, 
twenty-three  of  which  relate  to  the  Asylum.  It  is  one 
of  the  most  important  publications  ever  issued  by  the 
Trustees  ;  and  it  will  be  a  lasting  monument  to 
the  memory  of  Dr.  Lee,  who,  before  the  close  of  the 
coming  year,  was  summoned  from  the  eminently 
faithful  and  successful  discharge  of  one  of  the  most 
responsible  of  all  earthly  trusts  to  the   presence  of 


JOSEPH    HEAD. ABBOTT    LAWRENCE.  125 

that  Heavenly  Father,  whose  word  had  ever  been  his 
delight,  and  by  whose  precepts  his  steps  had  ever 
been  gnided. 

There  had  been  discharged  from  the  Hospital,  dur- 
ing the  year,  one  hundred  and  thirty-two  males,  sixty- 
one  females,  —  total,  one  hundred  and  ninety-three; 
in  the  Asylum,  May  1,  fifty  males,  thirty-one  females, 
—  total,  eighty-one. 

At  the  annual  meeting,  Jan.  27,  1836,  "  Joseph 
Head,  Esq.,  having  declined  a  re-election  to  the  office 
of  President,  —  voted,  that  the  thanks  of  this  Corpora- 
tion be  presented  to  him  for  the  performance  of  those 
personal  services,  and  the  exercise  of  that  influence 
with  the  community  in  favor  of  the  institution,  to 
which  it  is  so  largely  indebted  for  its  present  state  of 
prosperity."  Abbott  Lawrence  and  Edward  H.  Rob- 
bins,  Trustees  on  the  part  of  the  Corporation,  and  Ben- 
jamin D.  Greene  and  Francis  J.  Oliver,  Trustees 
chosen  by  the  Board  of  Visitors,  having  declined  a 
re-election,  w^ere  severally  thanked  for  their  services. 
Charles  Amory  and  Samuel  Lawrence  were  then 
elected  by  the  Corporation,  and  Henry  Edwards  and 
Robert  G.  Shaw  were  subsequently  chosen  by  the 
Board  of  Visitors  to  be  Trustees  ;  and  the  Corpora- 
tion was  now  organized  by  the  choice  of  Ebenezer 
Francis,  President,  and  Samuel  Appleton,  Vice-Presi- 
dent ;    and,  at  the   meeting  of   the   Trustees,  Feb.  7, 


126  WILLIAM    GRAY,    SECRETARY. 

George  Bond,  Esq.,  was  made  Chairman.  Dr.  Wins- 
low  Lewis,  jun.,  was  appointed  a  Consulting  Surgeon 
in  place  of  Dr.  John  B.  Brown.  No  other  change 
was  made  in  any  of  the  appointments. 

Mr.  Hallet  made  application  to  purchase  a  free 
bed  for  life  ;  and,  on  Feb.  21,  a  Committee  was  ap- 
pointed to  consider  that  general  subject.  On  March  6, 
the  Physicians  and  Surgeons  were  requested  to  report 
a  system  of  diet  for  the  patients  ;  and,  on  March  20, 
their  report  was  presented  accordingly.  Messrs.  Eliot 
and  Thorndike  were  then  appointed  a  Committee  to 
make  an  additional  purchase  of  land  near  the  Asylum, 
for  a  price  not  exceeding  twenty  thousand  dollars. 
April  8,  it  was  "  voted  that  the  sum  of  one  hundred 
and  fifty  dollars  be  paid  to  Dr.  Augustus  A.  Gould, 
in  full  for  his  services  as  Superintendent  of  the 
Hospital  in  the  year  1829  ;  and  that  the  Secretary 
transmit  to  Dr.  Gould  a  copy  of  this  vote,  with  the 
assurance  that  it  has  been  through  inadvertence  only 
that  no  earlier  action  has  been  had  on  the  subject." 
April  24:,  certain  new  rules  were  adopted  as  to  the 
admission  of  patients  at  the  Hospital.  May  8,  Mr. 
Bowditch  resigned  the  office  of  Secretary,  which  he 
had  held  during  nine  years  ;  and.  May  22,  William 
Gray,  Esq.,  was  elected  his  successor. 

On  June  5,  the  price  of  free  beds  for  life  was  fixed 
at  such  a  sum  as  would  be  required  by  the   annuity 


SUSAN  Richardson's  bequest.  127 

tables  to  purchase  an  annuity  of  one  hundred  dollars. 
In  July,  a  bequest  of  Susan  E-ichardson  was  received, 
for  the  support  of  female  free  patients,  amounting  to 
$250.  July  5,  Mr.  Eliot  was  appointed  a  Committee 
to  confer  with  Dr.  Lee,  "  to  hire  or  purchase  a  piano- 
forte for  the  Asylum,  with  appropriate  music."  Mr. 
Eliot  and  Mr.  Lawrence  were  chosen  a  Committee 
to  purchase  a  billiard  table  for  the  Asylum,  if  they 
should  consider  it  expedient.  Both  were  purchased. 
July  8,  Dr.  John  Ware  tendered  his  resignation  as  a 
Physician  of  the  Hospital,  which  was  accepted, — 
the  Board  taking  occasion  to  express  their  high  sense 
of  the  value  of  his  services ;  and  Dr.  Jacob  Bigelow 
was  appointed  his  successor,  and  has  been  annually 
re-elected  to  the  present  time.  August  7,  Morrill 
"VVyman  was  chosen  House  Physician ;  and  Samuel 
Parkman,  House  Surgeon  of  the  Hospital.  Aug.  21, 
six  thousand  five  hundred  dollars  was  appropriated 
for  rebuilding  the  lodge  for  female  patients  at  the 
Asylum ;  and  the  subject  of  erecting  a  dome  on  the 
new  building  at  the  Asylum  was  referred  to  Messrs. 
Gray  and  Quincy ;  and,  on  Sept.  4,  six  thousand  dol- 
lars was  appropriated  for  the  same. 

At  a  quarterly  meeting,  Oct.  7,  no  member  of  the 
Board  made  his  appearance. 

On  Oct.  23,  a  special  meeting  was  called,  in  con- 
sequence  of  the  illness  of   Dr.  Lee.     Ten  members 


128  DR.    lee's    death. VOTES. 

were  present.  Dr.  Jackson  was  requested  to  visit  Dr. 
Lee  at  Worcester,  accompanied  by  the  Chairman  and 
Mr.  Tuckerman.  He  died  there,  Oct.  29,  at  Ur. 
Woodward's.  On  the  3()th,  another  special  meeting 
was  called,  announcing  Dr.  Lee's  death,  at  which  a 
vote  was  adopted  for  attending  the  funeral ;  also  the 
following,  prepared  by  Mr.  Eliot,  viz. :  — 

"  Voted,  that  the  Board,  while  submitting  in  sorrow 
to  the  dispensations  of  Providence,  cannot  but  feel 
deeply  the  loss  which  the  institution  under  their  care, 
and  the  public,  have  suffered  in  the  lamented  death 
of  Dr.  Lee.  They  had  know^n  him  long  enough  to 
appreciate  his  talents,  his  attainments  in  his  profes- 
sion, his  remarkable  and  entire  devotion  to  the  pur- 
suit in  which  he  had  engaged,  the  beautiful  purity  of 
his  character,  the  elevation  of  his  views,  and  the 
propriety  of  the  means  by  which  he  sought  to  attain 
the  most  worthy  objects.  They  have  often  been 
struck  with  the  soundness  of  his  judgment  and  the 
kindness  of  his  manners,  and  have  perceived,  in 
the  institution  of  which  he  was  the  Superintendent, 
the  happy  influence  of  his  professional  skill,  combined 
with  the  cheerfulness  and  gentleness  of  his  deport- 
ment, and  the  piety  which  was  the  habitual  guide  of 
his  life.  After  an  association  of  nearly  two  years  of 
an  intimate  character,  they  can  say  with  truth  that 
they  have  nothing  to  regret  in  their  intercourse  with 


COLORED    PATIENT.  129 

him  but  its  premature  close.  They  had  hoped  to  see 
the  M'Lean  Asyhim  long  increasing  in  usefulness 
under  his  care,  and  to  witness  the  extension  of  his 
well-earned  reputation  for  many  years  ;  and  they  can- 
not suffer  him  to  pass  to  the  grave,  without  paying 
a  just  tribute  to  his  many  admn*able  qualities,  and 
his  peculiar  fitness  for  the  station  in  which  he  was 
placed." 

A  vote  was  also  adopted,  expressive  of  their  sympa- 
thy for  his  widow,  and  for  defraying  all  expenses  of 
his  last  illness,  and  payment  of  his  salary  to  April  1  ; 
also  a  vote  inviting  the  widow  to  remain  at  the 
Asylum  as  long  as  she  might  think  proper.  And 
it  was  voted,  "  That  the  thanks  of  the  Board  be  pre- 
sented to  Dr.  Woodward  and  his  family,  for  their 
kindness  and  assiduous  attention  to  Dr.  Lee  during 
the  illness  which  terminated  in  his  death." 

This  just  and  beautiful  tribute  to  the  memory  of 
Dr.  Lee  renders  any  remark  of  mine  unnecessary. 
He  died  at  the  early  age  of  twenty-eight  years,  after 
an  illness  of  only  a  few  days. 

Francis  C.  Gray,  Esq.,  resigned  the  ofiice  of  a  Trus- 
tee, and  was  thanked  for  his  services.  Nov.  6,  the 
subject  of  an  additional  building  at  the  Hospital  was 
discussed,  and  deferred  for  the  present.  The  Super- 
intendent was  directed  •'  to  call  on  Mr.  Tappan,  and 
inform  him  that  it  will  not  be  convenient  to  receive 

17 


130  DR.    LUTHER    V.    BELL. 

into  the  Hospital  the  colored  man  proposed  to  be  sent 
by  him."  Nov.  13,  the  rules  as  to  the  admission  of 
patients  were  modified,  ^nd  a  salary  of  $150  estab- 
lished for  the  office  of  Assistant  Physician. 

On  Dec.  11,  Dr.  Lnther  V.  Bell  was  unanimously 
elected  Physician  and  Superintendent  of  the  Asylum, 
"  provided  a  Committee  then  appointed,  consisting 
of  Messrs.  Eliot  and  Quincy,  shall  be  satisfied  that  he 
will  pursue  the  course  of  moral  and  religious  treat- 
ment of  patients  adopted  by  Dr.  Lee,  and  they  shall 
be  so  satisfied  before  communicating  the  appoint- 
ment." By  requiring  this  pledge  from  Dr.  Bell,  the 
Trustees  paid  the  highest  possible  compliment  to  his 
lamented  predecessor.  How  fully  and  admirably  that 
pledge  has  been  redeemed  by  Dr.  Bell  it  is  needless 
to  mention  in  a  community  where  his  character  and 
ability  are  so  well  known.  It  is  praise  enough  to 
say,  that  the  mantle  of  Dr.  Wyman  and  Dr.  Lee  could 
not  have  fallen  on  a  more  worthy  successor.  The 
Treasurer  was  authorized  to  borrow  fifteen  thousand 
dollars.  Dec.  15,  his  Excellency  Edward  Everett  and 
the  Board  of  Visitors  made  the  annual  visitation. 
Dec.  16,  the  Committee  reported  the  acceptance  of 
Dr.  Bell.  Jan.  1,  1837,  Messrs.  Loriug,  Amory,  and 
Tuckerman  were  appointed  a  Committee  to  prepare 
the  annual  report.  Jan.  13,  the  Treasurer  was  au- 
thorized to  renew  a  loan  of  twenty  thousand  dollars. 


THREE    NEW    TRUSTEES.  131 

At  the  annual  meeting,  Jan.  25,  Ebenezer  Francis, 
President,  and  Samuel  Appleton,  Vice-President,  and 
Edward  Tuckerman,  Francis  C.  Gray,  and  Josiah 
Quincy,  jun..  Trustees,  severally  declined  a  re-election 
and  were  thanked  for  their  services.  Edward  Tuck- 
erman, Esq.,  was  chosen  President ;  Jonathan  Phillips, 
Esq.,  Vice-President.  Robert  Hooper,  jun.,  Martin 
Brimmer,  and  Nathaniel  I.  Bowditch,  were  elected 
Trustees  in  the  place  of  those  who  had  retired.  The 
Corporation  fully  concurred  in  the  votes  of  the  Trus- 
tees, expressive  of  respect  for  the  memory  of  Dr.  Lee, 
and  of  sympathy  towards  his  widow,  and  directed 
that  those  votes  should  be  published  in  the  annual 
report.  A  highly  complimentary  vote  was  passed 
respecting  Mr.  Columbus  Tyler,  the  Steward,  for  the 
performance  of  his  increased  duties  since  Dr.  Lee's 
death  ;  and  the  Trustees  were  instructed  to  grant  him 
a  suitable  compensation.  The  Corporation  also  de- 
clared the  high  estimation  in  which  they  held  the 
services  of  Mrs.  Lee  and  of  Mrs.  Tyler  in  the  female 
department,  and  ordered  that  "  their  interesting  report 
of  the  organization  and  proceedings  of  the  Belknap 
Sewing  Society  "  should  also  be  published. 

On  Feb.  5,  one  thousand  copies  of  the  annual 
report  were  ordered  to  be  printed.  This  report  is 
drawn  up  by  Charles  G.  Loring,  Esq.,  and  occupies 
six  pages,  with  an  appendix  of  twenty  pages  more. 


132  CHARLES    G.    LORINg's    REPORT. 

It  states  a  necessity  (to  this  day  still  existing)  of  a 
further  ward  at  the  Hospital  for  the  accommodation 
of  patients  affected  by  fevers,  erysipelas,  &c.  ;  — 
speaks  of  the  erection  of  the  new  Belknap  Ward  as 
reflecting  great  credit  on  the  architects,  and  on  Mr. 
M'Allister,  who  superintended  its  construction  ;  — 
that  its  estimated  expense  will  not  exceed  forty  thou- 
sand dollars  ;  —  mentions  a  purchase  of  six  acres  of 
land  for  about  six  thousand  dollars.  It  pays  a  truly 
feeling  tribute  to  the  memory  of  Dr.  Lee,  and  makes 
most  honorable  mention  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Tyler's 
services,  under  their  increased  and  arduous  duties, 
resulting  from  his  sudden  decease.  It  mentions  the 
fortunate  selection  of  Dr.  Bell  as  his  successor.  It  is 
throughout  one  of  the  most  able  and  beautifully 
written  reports  ever  submitted  to  the  Board.  It 
closes  with  the  following  paragraph  :  — 

"  The  Trustees  feel  that  there  is  cause  for  great  gratitude, 
that  this  institution  enjoyed  so  long  the  talents  and  services 
of  the  honored  individual  (Dr.  Rufus  Wyman)  whose  for- 
tune it  was  to  lay  the  broad  and  deep  foundations  of  its  use- 
fulness and  reputation,  and  whose  invaluable  services  shed 
so  bright  a  lustre  upon  its  early  history  ;  and  that,  when  he 
retired,  exhausted  by  the  toils  and  responsibilities  of  seven- 
teen years  devoted  to  its  arduous  duties,  a  successor  was 
given  to  follow  out  his  designs,  to  raise  still  higher  this 
fabric  of  benevolence,  and  institute  further  inestimable 
improvements  for  the   accomplishment  of  its  great  design. 


DR.    ABRAHAM    R.    THOMPSON.  133 

And,  commending  its  destiny  to  the  same  Beneficence 
which  raised  and  has  hitherto  sustained  it,  thej  rely  with 
confidence  upon  the  ability  and  devotion  of  him  to  whose 
direction  it  is  now  mainly  intrusted,  that  he  will  prove 
himself  worthy  the  responsible  station  to  which  he  is  called ; 
and  that,  when  h^s  labors  shall  be  ended,  his  name  shall  be 
numbered  with  those  of  his  predecessors,  among  the  bene- 
factors of  his  race." 

The  patients  at  the  Asylum  were  forty-seven  males, 
thirty  females  :  total,  seventy-seven.  There  had 
been  discharged  from  the  Hospital,  during  the  year, 
one  hundred  and  fifty-eight  males,  sixty-six  females : 
total,  two  hundred  and  twenty-four.  The  documents 
appended  to  this  report  are  also  unusually  interesting. 
Many  details  and  anecdotes  are  given  in  Mr.  Tyler's 
report  in  relation  to  the  Asylum. 

The  same  Medical  and  Surgical  Staff  and  heads  of 
departments  were  re-elected,  except  that  Ur.  John  Jef- 
fries was  chosen  in  the  place  of  Dr.  Winslow  Lewis, 
jun.,  as  one  of  the  Consulting  Surgeons.  Dr.  John 
H.  Lee  was  elected  Assistant  Physician  and  Apothe- 
cary at  the  Asylum.  Feb.  19,  Dr.  Walker  declining 
to  act  any  longer  as  Consulting  Surgeon,  Dr.  A.  L. 
Peirson,  of  Salem,  was  appointed.  Mr.  Bowditch  and 
the  Secretary  were  appointed  a  Committee  to  revise 
the  rules  and  regulations  of  both  institutions  for  pub- 
lication. The  thanks  of  the  Board  were  presented  to 
Dr.  Abraham  R.  Thompson,  "  for  his  services  as  Phy- 


134  NEW    RULES    AND    REGULATIONS. 

sician  at  the  Asylum  during  the  illness  and  since  the 
death  of  Dr.  Lee,"  with  the  request  that  he  would 
accept  three  hundred  dollars.  A  grant  of  $250  was 
also  made  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Tyler  for  their  extra  ser- 
vices, as  recommended  by  the  Corporation.  April  2, 
the  Treasurer  was  authorized  to  borrow  twelve  thou- 
sand dollars.  Messrs.  Amory,  Brimmer,  and  Bow 
ditch  were  appointed  a  Committee  to  inquire  into 
the  increased  expenditures  at  the  Hospital  and  at  the 
Asylum.  On  April  12,  the  Committee  reported  a 
printed pamplilet  of  rules  and  regulations,  which  was 
adopted,  having  been  carefully  read  and  examined 
by  the  Board,  and  also  by  the  Physicians,  &c.,  while 
in  manuscript.  April  19,  a  correspondence  ensued 
between  Dr.  Lewis  and  the  Trustees,  in  respect  to  the 
change  in  the  Board  of  Consulting  Physicians.  The 
reply  of  the  Trustees  states,  that  they  felt  no  doubt 
that  his  skill  and  attainments  in  his  profession  were 
such  as  would  qualify  him  for  the  place ;  and  ex- 
presses the  hope  that  no  injurious  consequences 
would  follow  from  the  manner  in  which  they  had 
exercised  their  discretion. 

April  23,  the  Visiting  Committee,  Messrs.  Lawrence 
and  Eliot,  reported  the  following  vote,  drawn  up  by 
Mr.  Eliot,  which  was  adopted  :  '^  Voted  that  the  Trus- 
tees have  recently  seen,  with  great  pain,  that  a  viola- 
tion of  the  rules  of  the  institution  by  one  of  its  officers 


NON-OBSERVANCE    OF    RULES.  135 

has  become  the  subject  of  newspaper  animadversion. 
In  an  institution  like  this,  to  which  it  is  so  difficult  to 
attract,  and  in  which  it  is  so  important  to  command, 
public  confidence,  the  strictest  and  most  scrupulous 
adherence  to  rules,  of  which  the  propriety  is  unques- 
tioned, is  required  by  a  just  regard  as  well  to  its 
usefulness  to  the  public,  as  to  the  character  of  those 
who  have  any  agency  in  its  direction  and  control. 
Where  many  persons  are  connected  in  different  de- 
partments, the  reputation  of  all  is  more  or  less  affected 
by  the  conduct  of  each ;  and  all  are  therefore  bounds 
by  respect  for  others  as  well  as  themselves,  to  conduct 
in  such  a  manner  as  to  give  no  reasonable  ground  of 
complaint.  The  Trustees  have  felt  unlimited  confi- 
dence that  no  officer  of  the  institution  would  expose 
himself  to  just  censure,  and  they  have  on  all  occasions 
been  but  very  slightly  affected  by  remarks  which  they 
have  had  reason  to  believe  were  founded  on  jealousy 
or  misconception.  But  it  is  with  very  different  feel- 
ings they  regard  an  accusation  of  violation  of  rule, 
which,  on  inquiry,  proves  to  be  true  ;  and  they  think 
it  due  to  themselves  to  take  serious  notice  of  it,  and 
to  put  on  record  their  denial  of  all  knowledge  of  the 
circumstance  at  the  time  of  its  occurrence,  and  to 
express  their  hope  that  nothing  may  ever  again  re- 
quire a  similar  expression  of  their  feelings.  Lest, 
however,  the  breach  of  confidence  may  be  imagined  to 


136  DR.    JOHN    C.    WARREN. 

be  of  a  more  serious  character  than  it  really  was,  they 
think  proper  to  state,  that  the  circumstance  to  which 
they  allude  was  the  employment  of  Dr.  J.  Mason 
Warren,  a  young  man  not  connected  with  the  Hospi- 
tal, during  the  absence  of  his  father,  whose  turn  it 
was  to  officiate  ; "  and  a  copy  of  this  vote  was  sent  to 
all  the  Surgeons  of  the  Hospital. 

When  it  is  remembered,  that  Dr.  John  C.  Warren 
had  been  Surgeon  of  the  Hospital  from  its  founda- 
tion,—  that  the  Board  had  not  the  slightest  distrust 
of  the  capacity  of  his  son  to  perform  the  duties  alluded 
to,  it  must  be  admitted,  that  the  preceding  vote  is  an 
honorable  proof  of  their  vigilance  and  independence. 
This  son  was  a  few  years  afterwards  appointed  one  of 
the  Surgeons  of  the  Hospital,  the  duties  of  which  sta- 
tion he  has  discharged  with  signal  ability  and  success. 
A  reply  from  Dr.  Warren,  which  was  of  the  most 
candid,  manly,  and  appropriate  character,  was  received 
at  the  next  meeting.  This  censure,  alike  given  and 
received  in  a  proper  spirit,  did  but  tend  thenceforth  to 
strengthen  and  confirm  between  both  parties  feelings 
of  mutual  confidence,  regard,  and  respect. 

May  14,  Dr.  Warren  announcing  his  intention  of 
going  to  Europe,  the  surgical  department  of  the  Hos- 
pital was  intrusted  to  Dr.  Hay  ward.  Aug.  13,  Wil- 
liam Church  was  chosen  House  Surgeon,  and  Joseph 
Sargent  House  Physician,  for  the  ensuing  year.  Sept. 


DR.  JAMES  Jackson's  resignation.  137 

10,  the  wages  at  the  Hospital  were  ordered  to  be 
reduced  by  the  Superintendent.  Sept.  24,  the  Treas- 
urer was  authorized  to  borrow  twelve  thousand  dol- 
lars. 

On  Oct.  13,  a  communication  from  Dr.  James  Jack- 
son, by  which  he  resigned  his  situation  as  one  of  the 
Physicians  of  the  Hospital,  having  been  read,  the 
following  votes,  submitted  by  Mr.  Bowditch,  were 
unanimously  adopted  ;  viz.,  "  Voted  that  the  Trustees 
have  learned  this  determination  of  Dr.  Jackson  with 
the  utmost  regret.  Connected  as  he  has  been  with  the 
institution  from  its  first  establishment,  they  are  well 
aware  how  much  he  has  always  done  to  raise  and 
maintain  its  reputation,  and  to  extend  its  usefulness. 
Possessing  the  purest  and  most  exemplary  private 
character,  with  talents  and  attainments  which  have 
placed  him  at  the  head  of  the  profession,  and  with  kind 
and  affable  manners  which  have  won  the  affections  of 
his  patients  and  conciliated  the  esteem  and  good-will 
of  his  associates,  the  Trustees  cannot  but  regard  his 
retirement  from  the  Hospital  as  a  most  severe  and 
serious  loss.  While  they  accept  his  resignation,  there- 
fore, they  avail  themselves  of  the  opportunity  publicly 
to  acknowledge  that  he  was  among  the  most  active 
and  influential  of  the  original  founders  of  the  Hos- 
pital ;  that,  by  an  uniform  course  of  disinterested 
professional  and  personal  service,  he  has  ever  been 

18 


138  DR.  Jackson's  resignation. 

one  of  its  ablest  officers  and  best  friends  ;  and  that  he 
is  thus,  in  their  opinion,  entitled  to  the  lasting  grati- 
tude of  the  institution  and  of  the  community.  Voted 
also,  that,  as  a  testimonial  of  the  respect  of  the  Trus- 
tees for  Dr.  Jackson,  a  free  bed  in  the  Hospital  be 
placed  at  his  disposal  during  life."  Dr.  Enoch  Hale 
was  then  elected  to  fill  the  situation  thus  vacated. 

A  successor  of  Dr.  Jackson  (Dr.  O.  W.  Holmes) 
closes  a  humorous  poem  on  the  difference  between 
being  a  patient  and  a  physician,  with  a  most  feeling 
tribute  to  his  predecessor.  He  had  been  describing 
what  a  physician  ought  to  be,  —  one 

"  Whose  genial  visit  in  itself  combines 
The  best  of  cordials,  tonics,  anodynes. 

Such  is  tlie  visit  that,  from  day  to  day, 
Sheds  o'er  my  chamber  its  benignant  ray. 
I  give  his  health  who  never  cared  to  claim 
Her  bab'  ling  homage  from  the  tongue  of  fame  : 
Unmoved  by  praise,  he  stands  by  all  confessed 
The  truest,  noblest,  wisest,  kindest,  best !  " 

On  Nov.  5,  the  Treasurer  was  authorized  to  borrow 
eighteen  thousand  dollars,  in  part  to  pay  existing  loans, 
and  in  part,  six  thousand  dollars,  to  defray  current  ex- 
penses. Messrs.  Brimmer,  Thorndike,  and  Loring  were 
appointed  a  Committee  on  the  subject  of  the  Charles- 
town  Branch  Railroad,  and  also  on  the  subject  of 
removing  the  hill  of  gravel  at  the  Asylum.  Nov. 
19,  Mr.  Bowditch  was  added  to  this  Railroad  Com- 
mittee. 


VOTE    RESPECTING    DR.    JACKSON.  139 

Messrs.  Brimmer  and  Eliot  were  apDointed  a  Com- 
mittee "  to  consider  and  report  what  further  marks  of 
respect  should  be  paid  to  Dr.  Jackson."  On  Dec.  3, 
this  Committee  presented  the  following  report :  "  The 
Trustees  of  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital,  hav- 
ing received  from  Dr.  Jackson  the  resignation  of  the 
office  he  has  held  since  the  first  establishment  of  the 
institution,  cannot  suffer  a  circumstance  of  so  much 
interest  in  the  history  of  the  Hospital  to  occur,  with- 
out special  notice  of  it  on  their  records.  It  was,  in 
great  measure,  owing  to  the  active  efforts  of  Dr.  Jack- 
son, and  to  the  general  knowledge  of  the  fact  that  he 
would  interest  himself  in  its  success,  that  this  great 
charity  was  founded  among  us.  So  strong  and  just 
was  the  confidence  of  the  community  in  his  personal 
and  professional  character,  that  all  suspicions  of  pos- 
sible abuse  in  an  institution  of  the  kind  under  his 
care  were  speedily  overcome,  and  liberally  disposed 
persons  were  readily  found  to  intrust  to  his  integrity 
and  skill  the  necessary  funds  for  the  foundation  of  an 
establishment  which  should  do  honor  to  the  city. 
From  its  earliest  existence  to  the  present  time,  the 
Hospital  has  been  watched  over  by  Dr  Jackson  with 
a  zeal  and  fidelity  which  could  not  be  surpassed,  and 
has  acquired  a  reputation,  and  been  conducted  with  a 
success,  highly  honorable  to  him  and  to  the  other  dis- 
tinguished professional  gentlemen  with  whom  he  has 


140  VOTE    RESPECTING    DR.    JACKSON. 

been  associated.  While  his  direct  influence  on  the 
"welfare  of  the  institution  has  been  thus  decided  and 
beneficial,  the  Trustees  cannot  but  consider  as  equally 
valuable  the  indirect  influence  of  the  example  of  dis- 
interested and  faithful  labor  for  the  general  good 
which  he  has  given  to  the  profession  and  the  public. 
Under  his  constant  attention,  together  with  that  of 
the  professional  friends  assembled  around  him,  the 
system  on  which  the  Hospital  is  conducted  has  been 
perfected,  till  it  seems,  at  length,  admirably  adapted 
to  the  purposes  for  which  the  institution  was  founded, 
and  promises  to  insure  its  utility  during  all  its  future 
existence.  Long  may  it  continue,  by  doing  good  to 
all  classes,  to  embalm  the  memory  of  one  who  had  so 
large  a  share  in  its  foundation,  and  in  conducting  it 
to  its  present  high  rank ;  and  long  may  this  com- 
munity enjoy  the  benefit  of  the  direct  and  indirect 
influence  of  the  pure,  benevolent,  and  elevated  char- 
acter of  Dr.  Jackson !  The  Trustees,  in  communi- 
cating this  copy  of  their  record,  take  the  occasion  to 
request  Dr.  Jackson  to  sit  for  his  portrait  to  some 
artist  of  talent,  that  it  may  adorn  the  walls  which 
have  so  often  been  the  witnesses  of  his  disinterested 
labors."  And  this  report  was  unanimously  accepted. 
A  strong  protest  was,  at  this  meeting,  taken  against 
the  proposed  location  of  the  Charlestown  Branch 
Railroad. 


ANNUAL    REPORT.  *  141 

Dec.  17,  a  letter  from  Dr.  Jackson  was  received, 
and  the  Chairman  and  Mr.  Eliot  were  appointed  a 
Committee  to  procure  his  portrait  or  bust  as  they  may 
see  fit.  Dec.  21  and  22,  his  Excellency  Mr.  Everett 
and  the  Board  of  Visitors  made  the  annual  visitation. 
Messrs.  Hooper  and  Bowditch  were  appointed  a  Com- 
mittee to  prepare  the  annual  report.  Jan.  12,  1828, 
the  Treasurer  was  authorized  to  borrow  twenty  thou- 
sand dollars,  as  a  substitute  for  loans  formerly  author- 
ized. Jan.  17,  leave  of  absence  was  granted  to  Dr. 
Bradford  to  visit  Philadelphia. 

The  annual  report  at  the  close  of  this  period 
notices  the  proceedings  on  the  retirement  of  Dr.  Jack- 
son, and  speaks  of  him  as  "  one  who,  in  the  discharge 
of  his  official  duties,  has  left  a  bright  example  to  all 
who  may  succeed  him,  and  whose  name  will  never  be 
mentioned  by  the  friends  of  the  Hospital  but  with 
aff"ection  and  gratitude  ;  "  mentions  the  completion  of 
the  Belknap  Ward  at  a  cost  of  $43,500,  the  estimates 
being  forty  thousand  dollars,  —  that  the  institution  is 
thus  enabled  to  accommodate  fifty  additional  boarders, 
and  can  therefore,  to  a  certain  extent,  hereafter  receive 
such  as  are  known  to  be  incurable.  It  states  the 
measures  adopted  to  oppose  the  location,  See,  of  the 
Charlestown  Branch  Railroad ;  the  creation  of  a  debt 
of  forty  thousand  dollars ;  the  diminished  income  of 
the  institution  ;  and  the  need  of  a  separate  ward  for 


142  CHANGES    IN    OFFICERS. 

fever-patients  at  the  Hospital.  It  closes  thus:  "We 
do  not  think  it  expedient  to  make  any  actual  call  for 
subscriptions  at  the  present  time ;  but  we  feel  the 
utmost  confidence  that  such  a  call,  when  made,  will 
be  answered  with  that  liberality  which  our  institution 
has  already  experienced  upon  so  many  former  occa- 
sions." Six  years  afterwards,  such  a  call  was  made, 
and  it  was  nobly  answered.  This  report  occupies  five 
pages,  and  with  its  appendix  thirty  pages.  From 
this  pamphlet  we  learn  that  at  the  Hospital  there 
were  dischai-ged  one  hundred  and  thirty-six  males, 
seventy  females,  —  total,  two  hundred  and  six ;  and 
that  there  were  received  at  the  Asylum,  during  the 
year,  sixty- three  males,  fifty-seven  females.  The  first 
report  ever  presented  by  Dr.  Bell  is  one  of  the 
accompanying  documents.  It  gives  a  very  able,  in- 
teresting, and  satisfactory  view  of  his  department  of 
the  institution.  It  contains  a  table  of  all  the  patients 
received  and  discharged  annually,  from  the  very  com- 
mencement of  the  Asylum,  with  the  results  of  the  cases. 

Summary.  —  This  period  of  five  years  was  a  re- 
markable one  in  many  respects.  It  embraced  very 
numerous  changes  among  the  officers  of  the  institu- 
tion. The  truly  momentous  event  of  the  resignation 
of  Dr.  Wyman,  the  fortunate  selection  and  premature 
decease  of  his  successor.  Dr.  Lee ;   and  the  appoint- 


CHANGES    IN    OFFICERS.  143 

ment  of  Dr.  Bell,  who  has  so  successfully  matured  and 
perfected  the  admirable  system  of  both  his  predeces- 
sors ;  the  resignation  of  Mr.  Bigelow  ;  the  temporary 
tenure  of  his  successor,  Mr.  Wyman,  ending  in  the 
auspicious  selection  of  Mr.  Tyler,  the  present  incum- 
bent,—  mark  this  as  a  most  important  era  in  the  His- 
tory of  the  M'Lean  Asylum.  In  the  Hospital,  also, 
the  long-tried  and  valued  services  of  Mr.  Gurney  had 
ended,  and  his  place  was  filled  by  Dr.  Bradford. 
The  retirement  of  Dr.  Jackson  was  indeed  a  loss 
which  the  Trustees  felt  could  never  be  adequately 
supplied,  so  entirely  had  he  identified  himself  with 
the  institution  from  its  very  commencement.  One 
President  of  the  Corporation  had  died ;  and  two 
others,  Mr.  Head  and  Mr.  Francis,  who  had  each 
been  Chairman  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  and  among 
the  ablest  and  most  efficient  officers  of  the  institution, 
had  now  finally  retired.  Mr.  Russell,  after  rendering 
the  most  valuable  gratuitous  services  during  four- 
teen years  as  Treasurer,  had  been  succeeded  by  Mr. 
Andrews.  Mr.  Bowditch,  in  the  office  of  Secretary, 
had  been  succeeded  by  Mr.  Gray.  Of  the  entire 
Board  of  Trustees  at  the  beginning  of  this  period, 
none  remained  except  Mr.  Bond,  the  Chairman ; 
among  those  who  had  retired  being  Mr.  Codman, 
whose  services  in  the  capacities  of  Secretary  and 
Trustee  had  been  of  longer  duration  than  those  of 
any  of  his  associates. 


144  SMALL    DONATIONS. 

The  general  control  of  the  institution,  and  the 
management  of  both  its  departments,  had  thus,  as 
it  were,  passed  into  entirely  new  hands. 

Only  two  donations,  together  amounting  to  but  one 
thousand  dollars,  seem  to  have  been  received  during 
this  whole  period  of  five  years.  A  new  building  had 
been  erected  at  the  Asylum,  finishing  the  female 
ward,  to  correspond  precisely  with  that  for  male 
patients ;  and,  pursuant  to  a  previous  suggestion 
of  the  Board,  it  had  been  appropriately  named  the 
Belknap  Ward,  in  honor  of  that  munificent  benefac- 
tress of  the  institution,  Miss  Mary  Belknap.  In  the 
erection  of  this  building,  a  debt  of  forty  thousand 
dollars  had  been  contracted,  for  the  payment  of 
which,  however,  ample  means  existed.  The  M'Lean 
Asylum  continued  to  be  conducted  in  such  a  manner 
as  to  deserve  and  receive  the  entire  approval  of  the 
Trustees  and  of  the  public.  The  Hospital  in  Boston 
was,  during  this  period  also,  conducted  on  the  same 
general  system  as  in  former  years.  It  would  seem, 
indeed,  from  incidental  notices  in  the  records,  that 
there  had  been  occasionally  some  little  temporary  dif- 
ferences of  opinion  between  the  Medical  Officers  and 
the  Superintendent ;  but  the  Board  were  satisfied  that 
both  parties  were  alike  actuated  by  a  sincere  desire  of 
doing  their  duty,  and  of  most  effectually  promoting 
the  welfare  of  the  institution ;    and  some  slight  and 


DR.    GAMALIEL    BRADFORD.  145 

temporary  inconveniences  were,  it  is  believed,  the 
only  result  of  the  occasional  want  of  harmony  among 
its  officers  in  this  department.  And  it  is  due  to 
Dr.  Bradford  to  remark,  in  this  connection,  that  his 
health,  both  of  body  and  mind,  was  gradually  be- 
coming somewhat  impaired  by  an  alarming,  and,  as 
it  proved,  a  fatal  disorder,  whose  periodical  attacks 
tended  to  render  him  unduly  sensitive  to  the  annoy- 
ances incident  to  his  position.  An  occasional  irrita- 
bility, the  natural  result  of  his  disease,  from  time  to 
time  manifested  itself,  and  was  a  source  of  sincere 
regret  to-  those  who  never  ceased  to  respect  and 
regard  him,  and  to  none  more  sincerely  than  to  the 
Board  of  Trustees. 


19 


146 


CHAPTER    VII. 

1838-1842. 

Death  of  Dr.  Bradford.  —  Charles  Sumner  elected  Superintend- 
ent.—  His  Kesignation.  —  John  M.  Goodwin  chosen  his  Suc- 
cessor.—  Index  to  Medical  and  Surgical  Records.  —  Railroads 
at  the  Asylum. — Pitiful  Land  Damages.  —  A  Water  Bed. — 
Miss  Brimmer's  Bequest.  —  John  M'Lean's  Portrait.  —  Warren 
Fund.  —  Small  Pox  at  Hospital.  —  Death  of  George  Bond,  Chair- 
man OF  Trustees  :  his  Character  and  Services.  —  Robert  Hooper, 
JuN.,  Chairman.  —  Bust  op  Dr.  James  Jackson. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Corporation,  Jan.  24, 
1838,  Edward  Tuckerman,  President ;  Jonathan  Phil- 
lips, Vice-President ;  Henry  Andrews,  Treasurer  ;  and 
William  Gray,  Secretary,  were  severally  re-elected. 
William  Appleton  was  elected  by  the  Corporation  a 
Trustee  in  place  of  Charles  G.  Loring ;  and  Thomas 
Lamb  was  subsequently  elected  by  the  Board  of 
Visitors  a  Trustee  in  the  place  of  John  P.  Thorn- 
dike.  Both  these  gentlemen  had  declined  a  re-elec- 
tion, and  were  thanked  for  their  services.  The  Board 
now  consisted  of  Charles  Amory,  William  Appleton, 
Nathaniel  I.  Bowditch,  Martin  Brimmer,  Thomas  B. 
Curtis,  Samuel  A.  Eliot,  Robert  Hooper,  jun.,  and 
Samuel  Lawrence,  Trustees  on  the  part  of  the  Corpo- 
ration ;  George  Bond,  Henry  Edwards,  Thomas  Lamb, 
and  Robert   G.  Shaw,  Trustees   on  the  part  of   the 


MR.    GOODHUE.  MISS    BARBER.  147 

Board  of  Visitors.     It  was  voted,  "  That  the  Corpora 
tion  entirely  concur  in  the  sentiments  expressed  by 
the  Board  of  Trustees  in   their  votes  adopted  upon 
the  resignation  of  Dr.  Jackson ; "  and  the  same  were 
ordered  to  be  printed  with  the  annual  report. 

Drs.  James  Jackson,  George  C.  Shattuck,  John 
E-andall,  and  John  Ware,  were  chosen  Consulting- 
Physicians  ;  Drs.  George  B.  Doane,  John  Jeffries, 
Abel  L.  Pierson,  and  Solomon  D.  Townsend,  Con- 
sulting Surgeons.  Drs.  Jacob  Bigelow,  Walter  Chan- 
ning,  and  Enoch  Hale,  were  re-elected  Physicians ; 
Drs.  John  C.  Warren  and  George  Hayward,  Sur- 
geons ;  and  J.  B.  S.  Jackson,  Assistant  or  (since 
called)  Admitting  Physician.  Feb.  18,  Mr.  Homer 
Goodhue  was  chosen  Male  Supervisor  at  the  Asylum, 
and  Miss  Belief  B.  Barber,  Female  Supervisor ;  of 
which  posts  they  have  always  performed  the  duties 
in  a  most  exemplary  manner.  Miss  Barber,  indeed, 
is  a  second  Mrs.  Tyler.  March  18,  the  Treasurer 
was  authorized  to  borrow  six  thousand  dollars.  April 
13,  the  free  beds  were  reduced  to  twenty-four.  April 
18,  a  billiard-table  was  ordered  for  the  female  patients 
at  the  Asylum.  April  22,  Dr.  J.  B.  S.  Jackson 
resigning  his  office,  Dr.  Henry  I.  Bowditch  was,  at 
the  next  meeting.  May  6,  elected  his  successor. 
July  3,  further  loans  of  four  thousand  and  six 
thousand   dollars   were   authorized.     Aug.   9,  Henry 


148  BEQUEST    OF    AMBROSE    S.    COURTIS. 

J.  Bigelow  was  elected  House  Physician ;  and  John 
B.  Johnson,  House  Surgeon,  for  the  year  ensuing. 
Sept.  16,  Mr.  Lawrence  resigned  his  office  of  Trus- 
tee. Messrs.  Lamb  and  Bowditch  were  appointed 
a  Committee  on  the  subject  of  a  bequest  of  the  late 
Ambrose  S.  Courtis ;  to  whom  was  also  referred, 
on  Sept.  30,  a  proposal  of  the  heirs  at  law  for  a 
compromise.  Pursuant  to  a  subsequent  report  of 
this  Committee,  one  quarter  part  of  the  bequest 
was  accepted  in  full  (two  thousand  five  hundred 
dollars),  provided  no  greater  percentage  be  paid  to 
any  other  legatee.  Dec.  16,  Messrs.  Edwards  and 
Brimmer  were  appointed  to  prepare  the  annual  re- 
port. 

This  report  is  a  pamphlet  of  seven  pages,  with 
documents  annexed,  making  ten  pages  more.  It 
states  the  illness  of  Dr.  Bradford,  and  his  temporary 
absence  from  that  cause  ;  — "  the  unexampled  diffi- 
culties of  the  times  ;  "  —  the  embarrassed  state  of  the 
finances;  —  total  receipts  (of  which  $6,740  was 
capital),  $16,081;  current  expenses,  $17,506.24; 
excess  of  expenditures,  $1,425.24;  due  to  Massa- 
chusetts Hospital  Life  Insurance  Company,  $50,000  ; 
—  and  the  completion  of  the  Belknap  Ward.  One 
sentence  was  destined  to  be  strikingly  verified  a  few 
years  afterwards,  viz. :  "  The  Massachusetts  General 
Hospital   has  always  aimed  to  adopt  and   introduce 


SAMUEL    A.    ELIOT.  149 

the  most  recent  improvements  and  discoveries  in 
medicine  and  surgery."  It  mentions  the  increased 
number  of  inmates  at  the  Asylum  :  —  the  cure  of  all 
the  recent  cases,  excluding  deaths  and  patients  pre- 
maturely removed.  It  contains  a  very  curious  table, 
showing  the  occupations,  &c.,  of  all  the  male  patients 
at  the  Asylum  for  twenty  years.  Kemaining  in  the 
Asylum,  Jan.  1,  fifty-eight  males,  thirty-five  females: 
total,  ninety-three. 

Dec.  30,  thanks  were  voted  to  Dr.  Warren  "  for 
his  attention  in  procuring  instruments  and  medicines." 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Corporation,  Jan.  23, 
1839,  Samuel  A.  Eliot,  Thomas  B.  Curtis,  and  Sam- 
uel Lawrence,  having  declined  a  re-election  as  Trus- 
tees, were  severally  thanked  for  their  services  ;  and 
George  M.  Dexter,  Francis  C.  Lowell,  and  Henry 
B.  Rogers  were  chosen  in  their  stead  ;  all  three  of 
whom  still  continue  to  be  members  of  the  Board. 
Mr.  Eliot  had  been  a  very  efficient  officer.  Many 
of  the  ablest  reports  of  Committees  were  from  his 
pen.  In  his  relations  to  this  institution,  he  always 
displayed  his  characteristic  energy  and  independence, 
both  of  thought  and  action.  At  this  meeting  was 
passed  the  vote  by  which  all  persons  who  have  served, 
or  shall  hereafter  serve,  as  Trustees,  are  to  be  con- 
sidered members  of  the  Corporation.  A  remonstrance 
was  ordered  against  the  attempt  of  the  Charlestown 


150  THREE    FOREIGNERS    IN    HOSPITAL. 

Branch  Railroad  to  connect  with  the  Worcester  Rail- 
road. 

On  Feb.  10,  one  thousand  copies  of  the  annual 
report  were  ordered  to  be  printed.  Drs.  Bigelow  and 
Hale  were  re-elected  Physicians  ;  and  Dr.  Ware  was 
chosen  in  place  of  Dr.  Channing,  who  was  thanked 
for  his  long  and  faithful  services.  To  the  two  sur- 
geons of  last  year  was  now  added  a  third,  Dr.  Solo- 
mon D.  Townsend.  Dr.  James  Jackson  and  Drs. 
Shattuck  and  Randall  were  re-elected  Consulting 
Physicians  ;  and  Dr.  Homans  was  substituted  for  Dr. 
Ware.  On  the  Board  of  Consulting  Surgeons,  Dr. 
Edward  Reynolds  was  elected  in  place  of  Dr.  Town- 
send.  Messrs.  Bond  and  Brimmer  were  appointed  a 
Committee  to  procure  the  portrait  of  Dr.  Jackson. 
March  24,  measures  were  ordered  to  protect  the 
Hospital-garden  against  claims  of  air  and  light  from 
windows  opening  thereon.  July  12,  Dr.  Henry  J. 
Bigelow  resigned  as  House  Surgeon,  and  Mr.  John  F. 
Eustis  was  appointed  to  take  his  place  at  present, 
and  was  chosen  House  Physician  ;  and  Dr.  Christo- 
pher C.  Holmes  was  chosen  House  Surgeon  for  the 
year  ensuing.  At  this  time,  Messrs.  Bond  and  Bow- 
ditch  were  on  the  Visiting  Committee ;  and  there 
were  but  three  foreigners  in  the  House,  one  paying 
and  two  free. 

On  Oct.  11,  Messrs.  Shaw  and  Brimmer  were  in- 


MEDICAL    AND    SURGICAL    RECORDS.  151 

structed  to  report  as  to  the  expediency  of  rejecting 
syphilitic  patients,  or  of  charging  them  extra  board ; 
and  this  Committee  subsequently  reported,  that  such 
patients  should  be  received  only  in  urgent  cases,  and 
should  always  be  charged  double  the  usual  rates  of 
board  ;  and  this  rule  has  ever  since  been  acted  on. 
Messrs.  Bond  and  Bowditch  were  appointed  a  Com- 
mittee to  consider  the  expediency  of  applying  to  the 
Surgeons  for  the  records,  or  for  leave  to  copy  the 
same,  who  at  a  subsequent  meeting  reported  in  favor 
of  such  an  application.  The  Physicians  had  always 
regarded  their  records  as  the  property  of  the  institu- 
tion. Dr.  Warren,  on  the  contrary,  considered  the 
surgical  records  as  his  own  private  memoranda.  The 
appointment  of  this  Committee,  however,  and  their 
suggestions  as  to  the  importance  of  the  institution's 
possessing  either  the  originals  of  these  records  or 
copies  of  them,  induced  him  very  cheerfully  to  yield 
up  any  private  claim. 

On  Wednesday,  Oct.  2-3,  a  special  meeting  was 
held ;  and  the  following  votes,  prepared  by  Mr. 
Bowditch,  were  adopted  :  "  It  having  been  announced 
to  the  Board,  that  Gamaliel  Bradford,  M.D.,  Superin- 
tendent of  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital,  died 
on  Tuesday  forenoon,  after  an  unusually  violent  at- 
tack of  epilepsy,  to  which  disorder  he  had  been  for 
some  time  subject,  —  Voted,  that  the  Trustees  would 


152  DEATH    OF    DR.    BRADFORD. 

express  to  Mrs.  Bradford  their  sincere  and  respectful 
sympathy  upon  an  event  which  has  thus  suddenly 
taken  from  her  and  her  young  children  an  affection- 
ate husband  and  father,  and  deprived  this  institution 
of  the  services  of  a  zealous  and  faithful  officer." 
By  another  vote,  six  months'  additional  salary  was 
granted  to  Mrs.  Bradford ;  and  she  and  her  family- 
were  invited  to  remain  at  the  Hospital  till  the  choice 
of  a  new  Superintendent.  And  it  was  further  voted, 
that  the  Trustees  will  attend  the  funeral  of  the  de- 
ceased "  as  a  tribute  of  respect  for  his  private 
character,  and  a  public  acknowledgment  of  his  offi- 
cial fidelity.''  Dr.  Parker,  of  Roxbury,  was  requested 
to  act  as  Superintendent  pro  tern.  Mrs.  Bradford 
was,  by  a  special  vote,  subsequently  continued  in  the 
office  of  Matron  till  the  first  of  April  following ;  and 
it  may  be  truly  said,  that,  from  the  moment  when  she 
first  entered  the  Hospital  until  she  left  it,  the  Trus- 
tees felt  the  most  entire  satisfaction  with  the  mode  in 
which  she  had  performed  all  the  arduous  and  respon- 
sible duties  of  her  post.  And  when  she  at  last 
departed,  a  widow,  with  an  interesting  family,  which 
had  been  growing  up  around  her,  she  carried  with 
her  the  respect  and  regard  of  all  the  members  of  the 
Board,  and  their  most  sincere  good  wishes,  which 
have  since  been  happily  realized. 

Nov.  3,  at  this  meeting,  the  Committee  upon  the 


INDEX    TO    RECORDS.  153 

records  of  cases  made  their  formal  report,  which  was 
accepted ;  and  the  House  Physician  and  Surgeon 
were  directed,  for  the  future,  to  record  all  cases  in 
volumes  to  be  prepared  for  that  purpose.  A  perfect 
index  has  been  since  made,  both  to  the  medical 
and  surgical  records,  so  that  their  enthe  contents  and 
results  are  rendered  at  once  accessible.  Nov.  17,  all 
moneys  received  by  the  Superintendent  are  ordered 
to  be  deposited  in  some  one  bank,  in  his  name 
"  as  Superintendent."  Dec.  15,  Messrs.  Shaw  and 
Lowell  were  appointed  a  Committee  to  prepare  the 
annual  report.  This  report  is  very  brief,  about  five 
pages,  but  contains  at  the  end  a  report  of  Dr.  Bell, 
eighteen  pages  in  length,  and  other  documents, 
making  together  a  pamphlet  of  thirty-six  pages.  It 
mentions  the  death  of  Dr.  Bradford,  —  "a  man 
equally  remarkable  for  strict  integrity  of  purpose, 
and  great  independence  of  judgment ; "  states  that 
"  Mrs.  Bradford  continues,  for  the  present,  her  valua- 
ble though  unostentatious  services,  which  have  here- 
tofore contributed  so  much  to  the  success  of  the 
establishment."  It  shows  that  the  number  of  patients 
treated  this  year  at  the  Hospital  (three  hundred  and 
sixty-nine)  has  been  less  than  usual.  Of  the  M'Lean 
Asylum  it  remarks,  that  "  it  continues  to  improve  ; " 
and  the  Committee  add,  "  It  would  be  difficult  to 
find    language^  that    would    imply   greater   praise   to 

20 


154  CHARLES    SUMNER,    SUPERINTENDENT. 

those  who  have  the  care  of  it."  In  this  department 
there  were  remaining,  Dec.  31,  sixty-two  males, 
forty-six  females  :  total,  one  hundred  and  eight.  It 
mentions  by  name  all  the  free-bed  donors  of  the 
year.  Dr.  Bell's  report  is  very  able,  interesting,  and 
important.  I  will  not  do  him  the  injustice  of  making 
any  analysis  of  it,  or  giving  any  extracts  from  his 
statements  and  views.  It  ends  with  the  following 
sentence :  "In  closing  this  third  year  of  his  labors  in 
a  field  of  duty  which  to  him  has  been  one  of  un- 
mingled  enjoyment,  the  Superintendent  cannot  deny 
himself  the  satisfaction  of  bearing  his  testimony  to 
the  devoted,  intelligent,  and  conscientious  co-opera- 
tion which  he  has  uniformly  had  from  all  those 
associated  with  him." 

Dec.  17,  Mr.  Charles  Sumner  was  chosen  Superin- 
tendent. Dec.  27,  there  were  twenty-nine  males, 
sixteen  females,  in  the  Hospital:  total,  forty-five. 
The  number  in  July  previous  had  on  one  occasion 
been  reduced  to  twenty-one.  Dec.  29,  the  Visiting 
Committee  were  authorized  "  to  procure  a  water-bed, 
if  they  think  proper."  Jan.  10,  18-10,  the  number 
of  free  beds  was  raised  to  thirty-two.  On  the  18th, 
the  Visiting  Committee  were  instructed  to  make  ar- 
rangements for  Dr.  Bell's  absence,  and  to  continue 
his  salary.  John  C.  Gray,  Esq.,  was  thanked  for 
a  donation  of  three  hundred  dollars. 


HOUSE    PHYSICIAN    AND    SURGEON.  155 

At  the  annual  meeting,  Jan.  22,  1840,  the  same 
Board  of  Trustees  were  re-elected,  except  that  Ebene- 
zer  Chadwick  took  the  place  of  Mr.  Rogers,  then 
absent  in  Europe,  Feb.  9,  one  thousand  copies  of 
the  annual  report  were  ordered.  Dr.  Ware  was 
thanked  for  his  valuable  services  as  Physician  during 
the  past  year,  his  extensive  private  practice  prevent- 
ing him  from  being  able  to  hold  his  office  any  longer  ; 
and  Dr.  J.  B.  S.  Jackson  was  chosen  in  his  stead. 
The  Consulting  Physicians  were  all  re-elected,  as 
were  also  the  Consulting  Surgeons,  except  that  Dr. 
O.  W.  Holmes  took  the  place  of  Dr.  Doane,  deceased. 
March  22,  Mr.  Cogswell's  application  for  a  loan  of 
the  portrait  of  Lieutenant-Governor  Phillips,  for  the 
purpose  of  taking  an  engraving,  was  granted. 

On  April  15,  the  following  vote  was  passed,  which 
is  still  acted  upon :  "  That  any  patient  sent  by  a 
subscriber  for  a  free  bed  at  the  Hospital  shall  be 
admitted,  provided  the  subscriber's  free  bed  be  not 
|)re-occupied  by  his  order,  notwithstanding  the  vote 
fixing  the  number  of  free  beds."  May  17,  the  rules 
as  to  the  admission  of  students  at  the  Hospital  were 
modified ;  and  it  was  made  henceforth  the  duty  of 
the  Physicians  and  Surgeons  to  nominate  two  persons 
as  House  Physician  and  two  as  House  Surgeon,  one 
of  these  nominees  to  be  subsequently  chosen  by  the 
Trustees.     This  rule  of  a  double  nomination  is  also 


156  JOHN  m'lean's  portrait. 

still  acted  on.  June  14,  the  Treasurer  and  Messrs. 
Dexter  and  Bowditch  were  appointed  a  Committee 
respecting  a  new  lease  of  the  Belknap  Estate  in 
Washington  Street.  June  28,  the  Treasurer  was 
authorized,  with  Mr.  Lamb's  concurrence,  to  make 
investments,  or  to  pay  oiF  part  of  the  existing  debt. 
July  10,  Messrs.  Brimmer,  Lowell,  and  Bowditch  were 
appointed  a  Committee  to  examine  reports  of  French 
and  English  Hospitals,  sent  from  Europe  by  Mr. 
Brimmer.  July  15,  the  officer  called  House  Apothe- 
cary at  the  Asylum  was  ordered  to  be  known  as  the 
Assistant  Physician ;  and  a  grant  was  made  to  Dr. 
Fox  of  five  hundred  dollars,  for  the  "  highly  satisfac- 
tory manner "  in  which  he  had  performed  his  duties 
during  the  absence  of  Dr.  Bell. 

Aug.  16,  1840,  William  A.  Davis  was  elected 
House  Physician,  and  Elijah  R,.  Mears,  House  Sur- 
geon of  the  Hospital,  for  the  year  ensuing.  Aug.  30, 
the  Committee  reported,  as  the  result  of  their  ex- 
amination of  foreign  reports,  that  a  comparison  be 
instituted  of  the  prices  paid  at  the  Hospital,  at  the 
Asylum,  and  at  the  Worcester  Institution,  for  stores, 
&c.  Sept.  13,  it  was  voted  that  the  portrait  of  Mr. 
M'Lean  be  removed  to  the  M'Lean  Asylum,  and 
placed  in  the  oval  room.  It  now  hangs  there.  The 
room  thus  designated  was  the  dancing-hall  in  the 
days  of  the  old  owner,  Mr.  Barrell,  and  is  now  the 


ANNUAL    REPORT.  157 

room  occupied  by  the  Trustees,  and  for  the  reception 
of  visitors.  On  Nov.  22,  the  claim  against  the 
Charlestown  Branch  E.aih'oad  was  referred.  Dec.  20, 
Messrs.  Dexter  and  Lamb  were  appointed  to  prepare 
the  annual  report. 

This  report  is  only  three  pages  long ;  yet  with  its 
accompanying  documents  it  forms  a  pamphlet  of  no 
less  than  forty-three  pages.  It  mentions  the  increased 
subscriptions  for  free  beds,  for  which  it  says  "  the 
Hospital  is  greatly  indebted  to  the  personal  exertions 
of  the  Assistant  Physician,  Dr.  Bowditch."  The  sub- 
scribers are  also  especially  thanked,  and  a  list  of 
their  names  is  appended  to  the  report.  The  bequest 
of  Miss  Brimmer  for  this  object  is  gratefully  acknowl- 
edged. The  receipt  of  a  dividend  of  one  third  of 
the  profits  of  the  Life  Insurance  Company  ($20,000) 
is  announced,  and  the  fact  that  it  was  applied  in  part 
payment  of  the  debt  due  that  institution ;  the  divi- 
dend from  the  stock  in  that  institution  being  $7,825. 
The  total  receipts  of  the  year  were  $41,471.24:;  total 
expenditures,  $37,185.26.  The  report  of  Mr.  Sum- 
ner, the  Superintendent  of  the  Hospital,  contains  vari- 
ous interesting  statistics  and  analyses.  Dr.  Bell's 
report  is  sixteen  pages  long,  besides  eleven  pages 
of  republication  of  extracts  from,  and  documents 
appended  to,  his  report  of  two  years  before.  Num- 
ber of  inmates,  Dec.  31,  seventy-four  males,  fifty-one 


158  MISS  brimmer's  beqcest. 

females  :  total,  one  hundred  and  twenty-five.  Total 
expenses,  $20,919.63.  It  contains  various  tabular 
statements,  showing  the  results  for  the  preceding  five 
years.  It  contrasts  the  slight  personal  restraint  found 
necessary  in  our  institution  with  that  resorted  to  in 
similar  establishments  in  Great  Britain,  &c. ;  the 
abuses  of  private  mad-houses  in  that  country,  and 
the  safeguards  against  like  abuses  here.  This  report 
of  Dr.  Bell  will  be  found  no  less  interesting  and 
instructive  than  its  predecessors.  Dec.  25,  twenty- 
two  males,  twenty-five  females,  —  total,  forty-seven, 
in  the  Hospital. 

Jan.  15,  1841,  the  number  of  free  beds  for  the 
quarter  was  fixed  at  thirty-five,  and  for  the  two  next 
quarters  was  to  be  reduced  to  twenty-five.  A  letter 
from  William  D.  Sohier,  Esq.,  was  received  and  read, 
giving  notice  of  a  bequest  of  five  thousand  dollars  on 
certain  trusts,  in  the  will  of  Miss  Mary  Anne  Brim- 
mer, which  was  referred  to  Messrs.  Bowditch  and 
Lowell ;  and  at  the  next  meeting,  on  report  of  this 
Committee,  it  was  voted  to  accept  said  legacy,  "  upon 
the  trusts  prescribed  by  her  will,  and  with  the  Avish 
to  carry  into  full  eff"ect  the  benevolent  intentions  of 
the  donor."  The  purchase  of  certain  lands  near  the 
Asylum  was  referred  to  the  Visiting  Committee. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Corporation,  held 
Jan.  27,  the  same  eight  Trustees  were  re-elected.    The 


MR.    GOODWIN    CHOSEN    SUPERINTENDENT.  159 

Board  of  Visitors  elected  Ignatius  Sargent  in  place  of 
Robert  G.  Shaw,  who  had  resigned.  Mr.  Shaw,  not- 
withstanding his  numerous  private  engagements,  had 
zealously  discharged  his  duty  as  one  of  the  Board  for 
the  preceding  five  years.  Feb.  14,  the  Committee 
were  authorized  to  publish  what  number  of  copies 
they  saw  fit  of  the  annual  report.  All  the  Medical 
and  Surgical  Officers  and  heads  of  departments  in 
office  at  the  close  of  the  year  were  re-elected.  Feb. 
28,  Rejoice  Newton,  Esq.,  was  requested  to  take 
steps  for  collecting  the  amount  due  from  Isaiah 
Thomas's  legacy.  Mr.  Bowditch,  Chairman  of  the 
Committee  on  the  subject  of  Miss  Brimmer's  legacy, 
made  a  detailed  report,  which  was  accepted,  —  to  the 
end,  first,  that  a  separate  investment  and  account  of 
the  fund  should  be  kept  by  the  Treasurer,  and  the 
income  yearly  paid  to  the  Superintendent ;  second, 
that,  as  there  were  twenty-four  free  beds  in  the  Hos- 
pital when  INliss  Brimmer  died  (Oct.  18,  1839),  the 
Board  must  never  establish  a  less  number,  as  in  such 
case  the  bequest  would  be  forfeited  ;  and,  third,  that 
on  Jan.  1,  18-12,  tAVO  permanent  free  beds  should  be 
established,  to  be  called  the  Brimmer  Free  Beds,  to 
be  for  ever  maintained  by  the  income  of  said  fund. 

March  21,  1841,  Captain  Sumner  having  decided  to 
resign  his  situation  as  Superintendent,  Mr.  John  M. 
Goodwin  was   unanimously   elected.     Mr.   Goodwin, 


160  EIGHT    ACRES    OF    LAND    BOUGHT. 

it  will  be  remembered,  had  been,  several  years  before, 
an  officer  at  the  Asylum.  April  4,  Mr.  Dexter  was 
authorized  to  buy  eight  acres  of  land,  at  four  hundred 
dollars  per  acre,  near  the  Asylum,  or  to  hire  the  Joy 
Farm  at  five  hundred  dollars  a  year  for  five  years. 
April  16,  the  Brimmer  bequest  the  Treasurer  was 
authorized  to  invest  in  any  mode  sanctioned  by  her 
will.  The  thanks  of  the  Board  were  presented  to 
Dr.  John  C.  Warren  for  "  his  donation  to  the  Hospi- 
tal of  the  records  of  surgical  cases,  which  have  been 
kept  by  the  Surgeons  of  the  Hospital."  April  21, 
Mr.  Dexter  reported  that  he  had  bought  the  eight 
acres  of  land  of  the  Lowell  Railroad,  at  five  hundred 
dollars  per  acre.  This  is  the  lot  at  the  entrance  of 
our  avenue  on  the  right-hand  side,  and  is  now  prob- 
ably worth  five  times  as  much  as  it  cost. 

May  9,  Messrs.  Bowditch  and  Dexter  were  ap- 
pointed a  Committee  to  settle  the  northerly  line  of 
the  Belknap  Estate  in  Washington  Street,  with  Mr. 
Gibbs,  the  adjoining  proprietor.  June  6,  the  Visiting 
Committee,  with  Dr.  Bowditch  the  Assistant  Physi- 
cian, were  directed  to  take  measures  for  preserving 
the  medical  and  surgical  records,  and  for  bringing  to 
the  notice  of  the  Trustees  all  cases  of  patients  who 
had  been  over  three  months  in  the  Hospital.  Aug.  8, 
Ezra  W.  Fletcher  was  elected  House  Physician,  and 
George  Hay  ward,  jun.,  House  Surgeon,  for  the  year 
ensuing:. 


WARREN    FUND.  161 

Oct.  20,  1841,  Mr.  Bowditch,  from  the  Committee 
on  the  Charlestown  Branch  Raih'oad,  reported  that 
the  referees,  Judge  Fay  and  Messrs.  Fletcher  and 
Parker,  had  awarded  six  hundred  dollars  for  damages 
which  the  Committee  thought  really  amounted  to  Jive 
thousand.  Nov.  7,  Dr.  Warren  transmitted  a  letter 
enclosing  one  thousand  dollars  as  a  fund  for  the 
purchase  of  religious  and  moral  books  to  be  given  to 
patients  on  leaving  the  Hospital.  This  donation  was 
accepted ;  and  Dr.  Warren  was  thanked  "  for  his 
early,  efficient,  and  continued  interest  in  this  institu- 
tion ; "  his  letter  being  recorded  in  extenso. 

Dec.  5,  Mr.  Ignatius  Sargent  resigned  his  office  of 
Trustee,  and  transmitted  a  donation  of  four  hundred 
dollars,  which  was  suitably  acknowledged  by  the 
Board,  who  expressed  their  great  regret  at  losing 
him  as  an  associate.  Dec.  19,  Messrs.  Appleton, 
Bond,  and  Edwards  were  appointed  a  Committee 
respecting  a  fund  in  aid  of  poor,  insane  patients  who 
are  deemed  curable.  Messrs.  Amory  and  Chad  wick 
were  chosen  to  prepare  the  annual  report.  This 
report  is  only  four  pages  long,  but,  Avith  the  ac- 
companying documents,  makes  a  pamphlet  of  forty 
pages.  It  mentions  the  resignation  of  Mr.  Sumner  ; 
that  Mr.  John  M.  Goodwin  "  entered  upon  his  duties 
early  in  April  last,  and  has  since  performed  the  same 
in  a  manner  so  satisfactory  as  to  give  every  reason  to 

21 


162  MARCUS    MORTON,    JUN.,  SECRETARY. 

believe  that  the  Board  made  the  best  choice  in  their 
power."  It  mentions  certain  statistics,  as  to  free 
beds  for  the  past  three  years,  furnished  by  Dr.  Bow- 
ditch,  "  our  most  indefatigable  Assistant  Physician." 
It  commends  "  Dr.  Bell's  most  able  and  elaborate 
report"  to  "  the  careful  perusal  of  all."  It  states  the 
present  property  of  the  institution,  deducting  its  debt 
of  twenty  thousand  dollars  to  the  Life  Insurance 
Company,  as  about  ninety  thousand  dollars  ;  total 
receipts  of  the  year,  twenty-four  thousand  dollars  ; 
expenses,  twenty-three  thousand  six  hundred  dollars. 
Dr.  Bell's  report  fully  justifies  the  commendation 
bestowed  on  it  by  the  Committee.  It  is  twenty-two 
pages  long,  exclusive  of  an  appendix  of  forms  of 
admission.  It  states  that  the  patients,  Dec.  31,  were 
seventy-nine  males,  sixty-three  females:  total,  one 
hundred  and  forty-two.  Messrs.  Bond  and  Bowditch 
were  desired  to  consider  the  appointment  of  an 
Assistant  Surgeon,  and,  on  Jan.  14,  were  discharged 
from  that  duty.  On  Dec.  31,  nineteen  males,  thirty 
females,  —  total,  forty -nine,  —  in  Hospital. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Corporation,  in 
January,  1842,  Marcus  Morton,  jun.,  Esq.,  was 
elected  Secretary  in  place  of  Mr.  Gray,  who  had 
declined  a  re-election.  All  the  Trustees  on  the  part 
of  the  Corporation  were  re-elected  ;  and  Mr.  Henry 
B.  Rogers  was  again  chosen  by  the  Board  of  Visitors 


SMALL-POX    AT    HOSPITAL.  163 

a  Trustee  in  place  of  Mr.  Sargent.  Feb.  20,  all  the 
Medical  and  Surgical  Officers,  and  heads  of  the  two 
departments,  were  severally  re-elected.  April  21,  the 
salary  of  the  Male  Supervisor,  Mr.  Goodhue,  was  raised 
to  five  hundred  dollars,  and  of  the  Female  Super- 
visor, Miss  Barber,  to  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  in 
acknowledgment  of  their  faithful  and  efficient  ser- 
vices. 

At  a  special  meeting,  May  3,  it  was  voted,  that  the 
Trustees,  under  '•  their  feeling  of  great  anxiety  from 
the  introduction  of  the  small-pox  and  varioloid  into 
the  General  Hospital,  hereby  recommend,  that,  until 
these  diseases  are  expelled,  as  few  patients  as  possible 
be  admitted  into  the  Hospital ;  and  that  all  patients 
who  are  admitted  shall  be  first  informed  of  the  con- 
dition of  the  house  ;  and  that  the  Visiting  Committee 
be  requested  to  inform  the  Physicians  and  Surgeons 
of  this  opinion  of  the  Trustees,  and  to  urge  upon 
them  to  give  such  care  and  directions  as  shall  in 
their  judgment  be  most  effectual  to  prevent  these 
diseases  from  spreading  among  the  patients."  The 
Visiting  Committee  and  Mr.  Dexter  were  appointed  a 
Committee  to  cleanse,  whitewash,  and  paint  the  Hos- 
pital. 

On  June  5,  we  find  the  following  record,  viz.: 
"  Mr.  Bowditch  proposed  the  following  votes,  which 
were  read  and  adopted :  —  George  Bond,  Esq.,  Chair- 


164  DEATH  OF  GEORGE  BOND. 

man  of  this  Board,  having  died  May  2e3,  aged  fifty- 
four  years,  voted  that  this  event  has  closed  a  life  of 
honorable  usefulness,  depriving  the  community  of  one 
of  its  most  upright,  active,  and  intelligent  citizens, 
who,  in  his  better  days,  was  among  the  foremost  in 
all  acts  of  private  liberality  and  of  public  enterprise, 
and  who  bore  adversity  with  a  manly  firmness  which 
won  universal  sympathy  and  respect.  Voted,  that  by 
this  bereavement  this  institution  has  lost  one  of  its 
best  friends  and  benefactors,  one  who  has  ever  mani- 
fested an  untiring  zeal  in  promoting  its  interests  and 
objects,  —  devoting  himself  to  his  official  duties  with 
an  assiduity  and  fidelity  worthy  of  all  praise  and 
imitation.  Voted,  that  a  copy  of  these  resolutions, 
expressing  the  sense  which  this  Board  entertain  of 
the  exemplary  character  and  important  services  of 
their  late  associate,  be  transmitted  to  his  widow  and 
children." 

Mr.  Bond  had  been  Chairman  of  the  Board  for 
seven  years.  By  recent  reverses  in  business,  he  had 
become  bankrupt,  and  had  been  prevented  by  illness 
from  attending  any  meeting  since  Jan.  29.  He  was 
particularly  instrumental  in  the  fortunate  selection  of 
Dr.  Bell,  and  had  always  taken  an  especial  interest 
in  the  affairs  of  the  Asylum.  He  often  made  visits 
there  in  company  with  Mrs.  Bond,  and  ever  showed  a 
deep  interest  in  the  welfare  of  its  inmates.    In  the 


THREE    FOREIGNERS    ONLY    IN    HOSPITAL.  165 

transaction  of  business,  he  was  uniformly  prompt  and 
attentive ;  in  his  intercourse  with  the  Board,  courte- 
ous and  affable.  All  its  members  cherished  towards 
him  a  strong  feeling  of  personal  regard.  I  trust  that 
it  will  not  be  deemed  a  violation  of  confidence,  if  I 
mention,  in  this  connection,  the  interesting  fact,  that 
his  associates  sent  him,  shortly  before  his  death,  a 
letter  expressive  of  these  their  sentiments,  and  en- 
closing five  hundred  dollars  to  defray  his  expenses 
during  a  journey  to  the  South,  in  the  hope  that  his 
health  might  thus  be  restored.  He  died  among 
strangers  ;  but  none  can  doubt  that  this  mark  of  atten- 
tion and  friendship,  slight  as  it  was,  must  have  been  be- 
yond measure  grateful  to  him,  as  he  was  leaving  those 
familiar  scenes  to  which  he  was  never  to  return. 

At  this  meeting,  May  23,  renewed  admissions 
into  the  Hospital  were  recommended.  June  3,  two 
foreigners  paying,  two  free  ;  two  Americans  paying, 
eight  free :  total,  fourteen. 

June  19,  Mr.  Robert  Hooper,  jun.,  was  elected 
Chairman.  July  15,  the  Superintendent  was  directed 
to  prohibit  the  use  of  tobacco  hy  the  'patients  within 
the  house.  It  has  been  since  much  more  stringently 
and  generally  excluded.  Aug.  7,  a  permanent  free 
bed  was  established,  called  the  Tucker  Free  Bed,  to 
be  for  ever  maintained  out  of  the  income  of  the 
bequest  of  Miss  Margaret  Tucker,  which   had  just 


166  DR.  Jackson's  bust. 

been  received.  William  Henry  Thayer  was  elected 
House  Physician,  and  Edward  B.  Pierson  House 
Surgeon,  for  the  year  ensuing. 

On  Aug.  21,  1842,  the  Treasurer  was  authorized 
"  to  reimburse  Mr.  Brimmer  the  cost  and  expenses 
incurred  by  him  in  procuring  the  marble  bust  of  Br. 
Jackson."  This  bust  is  now  in  the  Trustees'  room. 
As  a  work  of  art,  it  is  truly  admirable.  It  is  the 
most  speaking  likeness  that  can  be  conceived.  It 
will  transmit  to  coming  times  the  calm  and  benig- 
nant countenance  of  the  first  Physiciail  of  the  Hospital. 
Sept.  18,  "  George  Washington "  was  placed  on  a 
free  bed  from  his  admission,  probably  on  account  of 
his  name.  Dec.  4,  Messrs.  Rogers  and  Andrews  were 
appointed  a  Committee  to  prepare  the  annual  report. 

This  report  is  about  twelve  pages  in  length,  and, 
with  the  documents  appended,  forms  a  pamphlet  of 
exactly  the  length  of  its  immediate  predecessor,  — 
forty  pages.  It  states  the  cost  of  the  Hospital  at 
$145,069.44,  and  of  the  Asylum,  |245,845.98  :  in  all, 
$390,915.42.  It  states  the  various  sources  of  income 
of  the  institution,  and  the  expense  of  each  depart- 
ment ;  that  the  Asylum  will  henceforth  defray  its 
general  current  expenses  [it  has  done  so] ;  that,  on 
April  8,  a  case  of  small-pox  occurred  in  the  Hospital, 
and  two  others  in  the  same  ward  were  attacked  by  it, 
one  of  whom  died  ;  that  sixteen  cases  of  mild  varioloid 


NOTICE    OF    MR.    BOND.  167 

occurred  to  June  1  ;  that  the  number  of  patients  was 
reduced  from  sixty-one  to  thirteen,  the  Directors  hav- 
ing forbid  all  admissions  during  this  period.  It  men- 
tions, with  suitable  expressions  of  gratitude,  the 
generous  donation  of  one  thousand  dollars  by  Dr. 
John  C.  Warren.  In  regard  to  the  Asylum,  it  states 
that  the  patients,  on  Dec.  31,  were  eighty-one  males, 
fifty-two  females :  total,  one  hundred  and  thirty-three. 
It  concurs  with  Dr.  Bell  in  the  opinion,  "that  in 
general  health  and  peace,  in  freedom  from  every 
painful  accident,  and  in  its  curative  results,  the 
year  now  completed  will  compare  favorably  with  any 
former  period."  It  especially  commends  the  views 
embraced  in  his  report,  and  refers  to  the  interesting 
circumstance  that  it  includes  the  results  of  a  period 
of  exactly  twenty-five  years.  This  report  of  Dr.  Bell 
is  sixteen  pages  long,  besides  an  appendix  of  five 
pages.  The  Committee  close  with  the  following 
beautiful  tribute  to  the  memory  of  the  late  George 
Bond,  Esq.  :  "  Ever  ready  to  devote  his  time,  talents, 
property,  and  influence  to  all  objects  of  public  utility, 
he  was  the  early  friend  of  this  institution,  and,  by  his 
faithful  services  and  prudent  counsels,  contributed 
essentially  to  its  present  prosperity  and  success.  A 
man  of  lofty  principles,  sterling  integrity,  sound  judg- 
ment, and  generous  impulses,  his  memory  is  entitled 
to  the  respect  of  all  who  honor  virtue,  or  love  practi- 


168  STATE    OF    INSTITUTION. 

cal  benevolence.     May  we  not  hope  that  his  example 
will  be  duly  appreciated  and  extensively  followed "?" 

Dec.  30,  thirty-one  males,  nineteen  females,  were 
in  Hospital.  Jan.  18,  1843,  Mr.  Brimmer  declined  a 
re-election  as  Trustee.  An  engraving  was  ordered  of 
the  Asylum  Buildings.  Messrs.  Lamb  and  Bowditch 
were  appointed  the  Free-bed  Committee. 

But  two  donations  to  the  institution  were  made 
during  this  period  of  five  years :  Mr.  Courtis's  be- 
quest, compromised  at  two  thousand  five  hundred 
dollars,  and  Dr.  Warren's  donation  of  one  thousand 
dollars.  Miss  Tucker's  legacy,  though  now  received, 
had  been  made  many  years  previously.  At  the  Hos- 
pital, the  death  of  the  Superintendent,  Dr.  Bradford, 
and  the  short  term  of  his  immediate  successor,  Mr. 
Sumner,  had  been  followed  by  the  appointment  of 
Mr.  Goodwin.  Tbe  lamented  decease  of  Mr.  Bond 
had  been  followed  by  the  selection  of  a  most  worthy 
and  able  successor.  The  small-pox,  which  had  been 
introduced,  fortunately  proved  fatal,  as  is  believed, 
in  only  one  instance.  The  pitiful  amount  received, 
under  award  of  referees,  for  land  at  the  x^sylum  taken 
by  the  Charlestown  Branch  Railroad,  was  more  than 
compensated  by  the  judicious  purchase  of  other 
additional  land  in  the  vicinity.  Both  departments  of 
the  institution  were  successfully  accomplishing  the 
objects  for  which  tliey  were  founded. 


169 


CHAPTER     VIII. 

1843-1847. 

Donation  Book  completed  bt  Mr.  Rogers.  —  Varioloid  again  in 
Hospital.  —  Mr.  Appleton's  Donation,  Ten  Thousand  Dollars. — 
Israel  Munson's  Bequest,  T^YENTr  Thousand  Dollars.  —  Sears 
Free  Beds.  —  Lands  in  Somerville  taxed.  —  Two  Wings  added  to 
Hospital:  Subscription  of  Sixty-two  Thousand  Five  Hundred 
AND  FiFTT  Dollars.  —  Services  of  Mr.  Rogers.  —  Miss  Taylor's 
Illness.  —  Dr.  Bell's  Visit  to  Europe  at  Request  of  Butler 
Hospital,  of  Rhode  Island. — Bequest  of  John  Parker,  Ten 
Thousand  Dollars.  —  Statue  of  Apollo.  —  Ly^ing-in  Department 
discussed.  —  Daniel  Waldo's  Bequest,  Forty  Thousand  Dollars. 
—  Death  of  Mr.  Goodwin.  —  Anecdote  of  him.  —  Richard  Gird- 
LER  elected.  —  Tomb  of  Thomas  Oliver.  —  New  Kitchen  at 
Hospital.  —  Enlarged  Medical  and  Surgical  Staff.  —  Medical 
College.  —  John  Redman's  Bequest,  One  Hundred  Thousand 
Dollars.  —  William  Oliver's,  Fifty  Thousand  Dollars.  —  Out- 
door Patients.  —  Hospital  Fence.  —  Monument  to  Jeremiah  and 
Mary'^  Belknap.  —  Addition  to  Dwelling-House  at  Asylum. — 
Bequest  of  Sarah  Clough,  a  Domestic  — Ether  Discovery. — 
Sickness  at  Asylum.  —  Death  of  Several  Patients,  and  of  Two 
Children  of  Dr.  Bell. 

At  the  annual  meeting,  Jan.  25,  1843,  the  following 
officers  were  re-elected :  Edward  Tuckerman,  Presi- 
dent ;  Jonathan  Phillips,  Vice-President ;  Henry  An- 
drews, Treasurer ;  Marcus  Morton,  jun..  Secretary. 
The  eight  Trustees  elected  by  the  Corporation  were 
Charles  Amory,  William  T.  Andrews,  Nathaniel  I. 
Bowditch,  George  M.  Dexter,  Robert  Hooper,  jun., 
Francis  C.  Lowell,  Jonathan  Chapman,  and  William 
F.  Otis ;  the  two  last  in  the  place  of  Messrs.  Brim- 

22 


170  FREE-BED    TABLETS. 

mer  and  Chadwick,  who  had  resigned,  and  were 
thanked  for  their  services.  Messrs.  Henry  Edwards, 
Thomas  Lamb,  and  Henry  B.  Rogers  were  re-elected 
by  the  Board  of  Visitors  ;  and  John  A.  Lowell,  Esq., 
was  chosen  in  place  of  Mr.  Bond,  deceased.  All  the 
Medical  and  Surgical  Officers,  and  the  heads  of  the 
two  departments,  were  re-elected.  Two  thousand  five 
hundred  copies  of  the  annual  report  were  ordered  to 
be  published. 

Messrs.  Bowditch  and  F.  C.  Lowell  were  appointed 
a  Committee  respecting  an  application  for  a  new  Life 
Insurance  Charter,  now  before  the  Legislature.  Feb. 
19,  Mr.  Bowditch  was  appointed  to  advise  with  the 
Treasurer  as  to  investment  of  funds  now  in  his  hands. 
March  5,  the  Visiting  Committee  were  ordered  to 
confer  with  Dr.  Bell  as  to  procuring  a  clergyman  to 
officiate  at  the  Asylum.  The  House  Apothecary  at 
Hospital  was  ordered  to  be  chosen  annually,  at  the 
time  of  the  choice  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons. 
March  19,  the  Visiting  Committee  and  Mr.  Bowditch 
were  appointed  a  Committee  to  have  tablets  prepared 
with  names  of  the  donors,  to  be  placed  over  such 
free  beds  as  are  supported  from  their  funds,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  Brimmer  and  Tucker  free  beds.  This 
was  subsequently  found  to  be  very  distasteful  to 
patients,  as  making  an  odious  discrimination  between 
free  and  pay  patients,  and  was  rescinded. 


HOUSE-DIET    AT    HOSPITAL.  171 

On  April  2,  Mr.  Rogers  was  appointed  a  Com- 
mittee "  to  complete  the  list  of  subscriptions,  dona- 
tions, and  legacies,  commenced  by  Col.  Joseph  May." 
April  19,  Dr.  Chauncey  Booth  was  chosen  Assistant 
Physician  and  Apothecary  at  the  Asylum.  Messrs. 
Dexter  and  F.  C.  and  J.  A.  Lowell  were  appointed  a 
Committee  on  the  subject  of  ventilation,  Avarming, 
&c.,  of  the  Hospital;  who  subsequently  reported 
plans,  with  estimates,  and  were  instructed  to  exe- 
cute the  same.  May  7,  Messrs.  Bowditch,  Otis,  and 
Amory  were  appointed  a  Committee  on  the  house-diet 
and  general  discipline  of  the  Hospital ;  and  Mr. 
Bowditch  was  asked  to  ascertain  the  boundary  of  the 
Hospital  flats,  and  to  take  measures  to  prevent  en- 
croachments. 

On  May  12,  a  special  meeting  was  held,  on  infor- 
mation that  "one  of  the  patients  was  believed  to  be 
ill  of  varioloid ;  and  the  Visiting  Committee  were 
requested  to  wait  on  Dr.  Warren,  ascertain  facts,  and 
act  as  they  shall  judge  best.  May  21,  the  Committee 
on  diet,  &c.,  made  a  report,  which  was  accepted,  and 
ordered  to  be  communicated  to  the  Superintendent, 
and  by  him  to  all  the  other  officers ;  and  it  was 
"  voted,  that,  whenever  the  Medical  and  Surgical 
Officers  shall  think  there  is  any  reason  to  suppose 
that  a  patient  is  ill  of  varioloid  or  small-pox,  it  shall 
be  their  duty  forthwith  to  inform  the  Superintendent, 


172  DONATION-BOOK    COMPLETED. 

to  the  end  that  he  may  take  immediate  measures  to 
remove  such  patient  from  the  institution,  if  he  can 
be  removed  with  safety  ; "  and  a  copy  of  this  vote  was 
sent  to  all  the  officers.  July  2,  a  box  was  ordered  at 
the  Hospital  for  preservation  of  valuable  papers.  It 
is  now  kept  in  the  Trustees'  room.  Aug.  20,  John 
Frasier  Head  was  elected  House  Physician ;  William 
E.  Townsend,  House  Surgeon  ;  Charles  K.  Whipple 
re-elected  Apothecary.  Oct.  18,  Mr.  Dexter  was 
appointed  to  express  to  Mr.  George  Taylor  "  the 
unanimous  and  decided  opposition  of  the  Trustees  " 
to  his  project  of  laying  out  a  new  street  through  the 
Hospital-grounds. 

Mr.  Rogers,  the  Committee  on  the  Book  of  Dona- 
tions, reported  that  he  had  completed  the  same. 
His  interesting  letter,  stating  the  difficulties  of  the 
task,  and  showing  how  successfully  they  were  over- 
come, is  recorded  in  full ;  and  it  occupies  five  pages 
of  the  record.  He  details  the  various  services  of 
Col.  May ;  and  of  the  early  donors  he  says  :  "  They 
belonged  to  every  rank  and  condition  of  life  ;  their 
subscriptions  far  exceeded  in  amount  and  number 
any  thing  of  the  kind  which,  even  to  this  day,  has 
been  known  in  New  England ;  and  Mr.  May  seems  to 
have  taken  a  pride  in  recording  their  names,  as  alike 
honorable  to  themselves  and  to  the  social  and  politi- 
cal institutions  under  which  they  lived."  It  closes 
with  the  following  interesting  summary :  — 


TOTAL    DONATIONS    AND    SUBSCRIPTIONS.  173 

From  the  record  as  now  made  up,  it  appears  that 
1,191  persons  subscribed  to  the  Hospital  and 
Asylum $131,269.21 

There  had  been  received  from  public  exhibitions, 
concerts,  and  incorporated  bodies,  among  which 
are  comprised  twenty-four  religious  societies, 
twelve  towns,  and  five  benevolent  associations      .  15,723.36 

Making  a  total $146,992.57 

Of  which    amount,    $45,373.34    was    specially  sub- 
scribed for  the  Asylum. 
There  had  been  bequeathed,  devised,  or  given  .     .     .       388,098.68 
Received  from  annual  donations  to  free  beds     .     .     .  46,657.00 


Thus  raising  the  gross  amount  received  in  various 
ways  from  the  public,  from  the  commencement  to 
this  date,  and  without  including  the  right  of  the 
Corporation  to  the  profits  of  the  Massachusetts 
Life  Insurance  Company,  to  the  magnificent  sum 
of $581,748.25 

The  task  thus  completed  by  Mr,  Rogers  was  most 
ably  and  satisfactorily  accomplished.  No  report,  in- 
deed, had  ever  been  made  to  this  Board  either  more 
gratifying  in  itself,  or  which  more  entitles  the  Com- 
mittee by  whom  it  was  submitted,  to  the  sincere 
thanks  of  the  Trustees  and  of  all  friends  of  the  insti- 
tution. 

At  the  same  meeting,  it  was  voted  "  that  the  subject 
of  Mr.  Lee's  bequest  to  the  Hospital  be  referred  to 
Mr.  Bowditch,  with  full  powers."  This,  it  is  believed, 
related  only  to  certain  restrictions  originally  imposed 
by  Mr.  Lee,  as  to  selling  the  stocks  which  he  gave. 


174  WILLIAM    APPLETON's    DONATION. 

Dec.  3,  a  communication  having  been  received  from 
William  Appleton,  enclosing  a  check  for  the  sum  of 
ten  thousand  dollars,  as  a  donation  for  the  purpose 
of  affording  aid  to  such  patients  in  the  M'Lean  Asy- 
lum as  from  straitened  means  might  be  compelled  to 
leave  the  institution  without  a  perfect  cure,  —  it  was 
"  voted  that  the  Trustees  appreciate  highly  the  liber- 
ality and  wisdom  of  this  act  of  charity,  and  accept 
this  donation  to  be  held  sacred  for  the  special  purpose 
designated  by  the  donor."  Mr.  Appleton's  communi- 
cation was  ordered  to  be  recorded,  and  the  amount 
deposited  in  the  Massachusetts  Hospital  Life  Insur- 
ance Company,  as  "  the  Appleton  Fund  for  the  Relief 
of  the  Insane  ;  "  Messrs.  Hooper  and  F.  C.  Lowell 
being  appointed  to  carry  these  votes  into  effect.  On 
Dec.  17,  Messrs.  J.  A.  Lowell  and  Otis  were  appointed 
a  Committee  to  prepare  the  annual  report. 

Of  this  document  the  unprecedented  number  of  four 
thousand  copies  was  published,  —  a  compliment  to 
which  it  was  well  entitled.  It  is  twelve  pages  long, 
and  contains  an  elaborate  report  of  Dr.  Bell,  of  forty- 
two  pages,  making  in  all  a  pamphlet  of  sixty-three 
pages.  The  report  gives  a  very  satisfactory  view  of 
the  property  of  the  institution.  The  donations  of  the 
year  were  $10,762.37  ;  the  payment  of  ten  thousand 
dollars  on  the  note  to  the  liife  Insurance  Company 
leaving  only  a  balance  of  ten  thousand  dollars  due, 


ENLARGEMENT    OF    HOSPITAL.  175 

probably  to  be  paid  before  the  report  shall  be  read- 
It  extracts  from  the  donation-book  the  summary  of 
all  the  donations,  $581,748.25.  It  especially  notices 
the  welcome  gift  by  Mr.  Appleton  of  the  fund  of  ten 
thousand  dollars.  Dr.  Bell's  report  is  one  of  the  most 
valuable  of  his  satisfactory  annual  communications. 
Appended  to  it  is  a  table,  showing  all  the  results  of 
the  Asylum  from  its  commencement.  Eighty  males 
and  fifty-four  females  remained  in  that  institution  at 
the  close  of  the  year.  A  brief  report  from  Mr.  Good- 
win, the  Superintendent  of  the  Hospital,  is  published, 
with  the  usual  analyses.  Dec.  29,  thirty-three  males, 
twenty-two  females,  in  the  Hospital. 

Dec.  31,  notice  of  annual  meeting  was  ordered  to 
be  sent  by  the  Secretary  to  all  the  members  of  the 
Corporation,  so  far  as  he  can  ascertain  them.  Voted 
"  that  the  present  and  past  Physicians  and  Surgeons 
of  the  institution  be  requested  to  suggest  to  this  Board 
any  changes  in  the  management  or  arrangements  of 
the  Hospital,  whith  in  their  view  would  increase  its 
usefulness,  and  also  to  express  their  opinion  of  the 
necessity  of  enlarging  the  buildings."  The  result  of 
this  vote  was  the  enlargement  of  the  Hospital  by 
the  addition  of  two  wings,  each  fifty  feet  square. 
Jan.  12,  1844,  the  Superintendent  was  authorized  to 
buy  a  vapor -bath  now  at  the  Hospital ;  and  grants 
were  made  of  two  hundred  dollars  to  Dr.  Bell,  and 
one  hundred  each  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Tyler. 


176  MAINE    RAILROAD. 

At  the  annual  meeting,  Jan.  24,  1844,  William 
Appleton,  Esq.,  was  elected  President  in  place  of 
Edward  Tuckerman,  Esq.,  deceased;  and  Charles 
S.  StoiTow  and  Edward  Wiggles  worth,  Trustees  in 
place  of  Messrs.  Chapman  and  Otis,  who  had  de- 
clined a  re-election,  and  were  thanked  for  their  ser- 
vices during  the  past  year.  Feb.  4,  on  the  Board 
of  Consulting  Physicians,  Joseph  Poby  took  the 
place  of  Dr.  John  Randall,  deceased.  There  were 
no  other  changes  of  officers.  Two  thousand  five 
hundred  copies  of  the  report  were  ordered  to  be 
printed. 

On  Feb.  18,  Mr.  Bowditch  presented  a  remon- 
strance against  a  new  railroad,  prayed  for  near  the 
Asylum,  which  was  adopted,  and  ordered  to  be  laid 
before  the  Legislature  ;  and  Messrs.  Bowditch  and 
Edwards  were  appointed  to  appear  before  the  Com- 
mittee of  the  Legislature  in  support  of  the  same. 
This  was  the  Maine  Railroad,  which  the  Trustees 
succeeded  in  keeping  off"  at  a  respectful  distance. 
March  3,  fifteen  hundred  additional  copies  were  or- 
dered of  the  report,  making  in  all  four  thousand. 

On  March  17,  Messrs.  Amory  and  Rogers  were 
appointed  a  Committee  to  inquire  into  the  facts  rela- 
tive to  a  donation  of  five  thousand  dollars  made  to 
this  institution  by  David  Sears  in  1817,  and  to  re- 
port.     Certain    alterations    proposed    in    the    female 


ISRAEL    MUNSON.  DAVID    SEARS.  177 

"  lodge "  at  the  Asylum,  by  Dr.  Bell,  were  agreed 
to ;  and  the  Steward  was  authorized  to  make  the 
same.  The  Treasurer,  and  Messrs.  Bowditch  and 
Dexter,  were  appointed  a  Committee  to  rebuild  the 
Belknap  Estate  on  Washington  Street.  A  report  of 
the  Physicians  and  Surgeons  was  received,  and  a 
future  meeting  ordered,  at  which  their  attendance 
was  requested ;  Messrs.  Rogers  and  Dexter  being  re- 
quested to  bring  the  title-deeds,  plans,  &c.  March 
26,  the  proposed  meeting  took  place,  the  Visiting 
Physicians  and  Surgeons  being  present ;  and  Drs. 
James  Jackson  and  John  Ware,  past  Physicians. 
Messrs.  Amory  and  Bowditch  were  appointed  a 
Committee  on  the  subject  of  visits  at  the  Hospital. 
The  Chairman,  J.  A.  Lowell,  and  the  Treasurer, 
were  appointed  a  Committee  respecting  a  legacy 
of  the  late  Israel  Munson.  This  Committee  re- 
ported at  the  next  meeting,  that  they  had  received 
the  same  in  United  States  six  per  cent  stock. 

On  March  31,  Messrs.  Rogers  and  Andrews  were 
appointed  a  Committee  to  expend  fifty  dollars  for 
the  formation  of  a  permanent  library  at  the  Hospi- 
tal. •'  It  appearing,  by  report  of  the  Committee, 
that  in  the  year  1817  the  sum  of  five  thousand 
dollars  was  given  to  this  institution  by  David  Sears, 
Esq.,  with  the  wish  and  intent  on  his  part  that  the 
same  should  be    specially    applied    to    the  relief  of 

23 


178  DR.  hale's  rain-gauge. 

surgical  patients  ;  and  whereas  two  free  beds  are 
established  in  the  Hospital,  specially  for  cases  of 
accident,  —  voted  that  the  said  two  free  beds  be 
henceforth  known  as  the  Sears  Free  Beds."  The 
Committee  on  Visits  at  the  Hospital  made  a  detailed 
report,  recommending  alterations  in  the  rules  and 
regulations,  which  were  adopted.  All  title-deeds, 
&c.,  were  ordered  to  be  deposited  with  the  Treas- 
urer. All  papers  and  plans  as  to  enlargement  of 
the  Hospital  were  referred  to  Messrs.  Amory,  Dex- 
ter, and  Storrow. 

On  April  12,  a  vote  was  passed,  expressing  the 
gratitude  of  the  Trustees  for  the  munificent  bequest 
of  Israel  Munson,  and  also  presenting  their  sincere 
thanks  to  Charles  Barnard,  Esq.,  the  executor,  for 
the  prompt  and  satisfactory  manner  in  w4iich  he 
carried  into  effect  the  testator's  provisions  in  favor 
of  this  institution.  Dr.  Hale  was  permitted  to  erect 
a  pole  in  the  Hospital-grounds  for  the  purpose  of 
a  rain-gauge.  Messrs.  Rogers,  Bowditch,  and  Wig- 
glesworth  were  appointed  a  Committee  to  consider 
the  subject  of  procuring  tablets  of  the  names  of 
benefactors  of  this  institution,  and  to  report  thereon 
to  this  Board.  This  Committee  have  never  yet 
acted.  April  17,  jNlr.  Benjamin  Cushing  was 
elected  Apothecary  at  the  Hospital.  Messrs.  Rog- 
ers and   Amory  were  appointed   a   Committee  as   to 


ADDRESS    TO    THE    PUBLIC.  179 

Physicians  charging  fees  to  patients  able  to  pay, 
who  subsequently  reported  in  favor  of  the  same  in 
case  of  out-door  patients.  Messrs.  Bowditch  and  J. 
A.  Lowell  were  appointed  a  Committee  to  sue  the 
town  of  Somerville,  to  recover  back  a  tax  paid 
under   protest. 

Messrs.  Rogers,  Amory,  Edwards,  and  Andrews 
were  appointed  a  Committee  to  solicit  subscriptions 
for  enlarging  the  Hospital.  At  the  next  meeting, 
May  19,  this  Committee  reported  an  address  to  the 
public,  which  was  adopted  ;  and  the  President  and 
other  officers  were  requested  to  aid  the  Trustees  in 
regard  to  this  proposed  appeal  ;  and  the  address  was 
ordered  to  be  signed  by  all  the  officers  and  the  Trus- 
tees, and  recommitted,  with  authority  to  publish  and 
circulate  the  same. 

This  address  was  accordingly  published  in  a  pam- 
phlet of  fourteen  pages,  and  is  a  beautiful  specimen 
of  typography.  It  commences  with  the  following 
account  of  the  original  subscriptions  :  — 

"In  the  year  1816,  the  Trustees  of  the  Massachusetts 
General  Hospital,  who,  as  early  as  1811,  had  received  a 
charter  from  the  Commonwealth,  accompanied  by  the  liberal 
grant  of  the  '  Old  Province  House '  Estate  valued  at  forty 
thousand  dollars,  upon  condition  that  the  sum  of  one  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars  should  be  raised  by  private  subscrip- 
tions ;  and  who,  in  the  hope  of  better  things,  had  struggled 
patiently  on  through  the  long  period  of  non-intercourse,  war. 


180  ADDRESS    TO    THE    PUBLIC. 

and  commercial  disaster  that  had  intervened,  —  determined 
to  make  an  appeal  in  behalf  of  the  institution  over  which 
they  nominally  presided.  They  laid  their  case  before  the 
public.  They  maintained  that  an  establishment  for  the 
alleviation  and  cure  of  '  the  sick  and  insane '  was  needed  ; 
and  they  appealed  to  the  intelHgence  and  humanity  of  a 
Christian  people  to  supply  the  want.  By  able  statements 
and  addresses,  which  were  extensively  published,  and  by 
letters  and  circulars  to  clergymen  of  all  denominations,  and 
to  private  individuals  of  wealth  and  character  throughout 
the  Commonwealth,  they  informed  and  awakened  the  general 
mind,  and  created  a  strong  and  widely  extended  sympathy 
for  their  cause. 

"All  things  having  been  thus  prepared,  they  divided  them- 
selves into  four  Committees  ;  and,  abandoning  tlieir  private 
affairs  for  a  season,  they  went  through  our  streets,  day  after 
day,  soliciting  subscriptions  from  all ;  for  they  deemed  it 
important  that  every  individual  in  the  community  should 
have  an  opportunity  to  contribute  to  a  charity  in  which 
each  was   interested. 

"  They  were  greeted  everywhere  with  smiles  and  kind 
expressions  ;  and,  in  the  course  of  a  very  few  days,  their 
books  exhibited  subscriptions  to  the  amount  of  one  hundred 
and  ten  thousand  dollars,  which  were  afterwards  increased  to 
over  one  hundred  and  forty-six  thousand  dollars.  So  great 
a  result  was  worthy  of  the  intelligence  and  public  spirit  of 
Boston  and  of  Massachusetts.  As  a  voluntary  subscription 
from  individuals,  it  is  the  largest  that  the  statistics  of  charity 
in  our  country  can  furnish  ;  and,  taken  in  connection  with  the 
losses  and  embarrassments  which  had  preceded,  it  may  be 
reoarded  as  extraordinarv. 

"  As  a  noble  tribute  to  a  work  of  great  utility  and  benevo- 
lence, we  delight  to  record  it  for  the  praise  and  honor  of  the 


FOR    ENLARGEMENT    OF    HOSPITAL.  181 

men  who  made  it,  and  for  the  just  consideration  and  imita- 
tion of  their  children  and  descendants.  It  was  made  by 
persons  of  all  conditions  of  life,  and  in  sums  varying  from 
twenty  thousand  dollars  to  twenty -five  cents,  —  the  gift  of 
a  poor  black,  whose  name,  as  it  deserves,  is  recorded  with 
others  on  the  books  of  the  donors.  With  the  proceeds  of 
this  munificent  subscription,  the  Trustees  laid  the  foundation 
of  the  Hospital  in  Allen  Street,  and  of  the  Asylum  at 
Soinerville.  The  original  contributors  to  this  fund  have, 
most  of  them,  gone  to  render  up  their  account;  a  few 
honored  names  only  remain  ;  but  the  fountain  which  their 
benevolence  caused  to  gush  forth  still  continues  to  flow  on 
in  an  uninterrupted  stream  of  health  and  comfort  to  many 
a  suffering  being.  Since  the  commencement  of  the  first 
buildings,  many  noble  bequests  and  donations  have  been 
received  from  various  public-spirited  individuals,  which  have 
added  greatly  to  the  size  and  utility  of  the  institution." 

The  address  states  ably  and  conclusively  the  in- 
sufficient accommodations  of  the  Hospital,  which,  by 
reason  of  the  great  increase  of  the  population  of 
Boston,  only  provides  one  bed  for  every  1,666  indi- 
viduals, while  Paris  provides  one  for  every  250  per- 
sons, and  London  for  every  500  ;  —  that  the  wealth 
of  Boston  has  kept  pace  with  its  population.  It 
mentions  the  intention  of  enlarging  the  Hospital, 
by  wings  fifty  feet  wide,  fifty-seven  feet  deep,  esti- 
mated to  cost  fifty  thousand  dollars ;  notices  the 
recent  bequest  of  Mr.  Munson  of  twenty  thousand 
dollars ;  and  ends  with  the  following  fervent  and 
eloquent  appeal :  — 


182  USE    OF    TOBACCO    PROHIBITED. 

"Upon  the  principles  and  for  the  reasons  now  explained, 
the  Trustees  invite  subscriptions  in  behalf  of  the  Hospital. 
The  existing  edifice  bears  honorable  testimony  to  the  virtue 
and  philanthropy  of  our  fathers  ;  and  the  Trustees  will  not 
suffer  themselves  to  doubt  that  the  result  of  the  present 
effort  will  prove  equally  honorable  to  their  sons  and  suc- 
cessors. 

"  To  found  and  maintain  institutions  for  the  relief  of  the 
sick  and  afflicted  is  not  only  the  mark  but  the  privilege  of 
civilization  ;  and  he  who  gives  evidence  of  his  faithful  dis- 
charge of  duty  in  this  regard  will  leave  a  memento  of  him- 
self, that  shall  outlive  his  generation,  and  be  dear  to  the 
hearts  of  his  children  and  of  every  true  man." 

A  letter  of  the  six  attending  Physicians  and  Sur- 
geons, addressed  to  the  Trustees,  in  favor  of  this 
project,  is  appended  to  the  report. 

On  June  2,  1844,  Mr.  Dexter  was  asked  to  prepare 
plans  of  the  proposed,  addition  to  the  Hospital  with 
detailed  estimates  of  the  expenses.  June  16,  Messrs. 
Bowditch  and  Dexter  were  appointed  with  full  powers 
to  settle  the  south  boundary  of  the  Belknap  Estate. 
June  23,  Mr.  Dexter  reported  plans  of  two  additional 
wings ;  the  Subscription  Committee  reported  prog- 
ress ;  and  a  Building  Committee  of  five  was  ap- 
pointed,—  viz.  Messrs.  J.  A.  Lowell,  Amory,  Andrews, 
Rogers,  and  Storrow. 

On  Aug.  18,  Henry  Sargent  was  elected  House 
Physician ;  George  H.  Gay,  House  Surgeon ;  Benja- 
min Gushing  re  elected  Apothecary.     Five  new  rules 


ENLARGEMENT    OF    HOSPITAL.  183' 

and  regulations  were  adopted,  one  of  which  was, 
"  The  smoking  of  tobacco  is  prohibited  in  the  prem- 
ises of  the  Hospital."  The  Committee  on  enlarging 
the  Hospital  presented  their  report  by  H.  B.  Rogers, 
Chairman ;  and  the  same,  with  the  appeal  to  the 
public,  was  recorded  in  extenso,  occupying  twenty 
pages  of  the  records.  It  details  in  an  interesting 
manner  the  circumstances  which  led  to  a  conviction 
of  the  necessity  of  additional  accommodations  ;  the 
first  intention  to  apply  for  one  new  wing,  to  cost 
twenty-five  thousand  dollars,  and  finally  for  two,  to 
cost  fifty  thousand  dollars  ;  the  publication  in  several 
new^spapers,  and  in  a  pamphlet-form  for  distribution, 
of  an  appeal  to  the  public ;  a  meeting  held,  at  which 
Thomas  H.  Perkins  was  Chairman,  and  J.  Ingersoll 
Bowditch  Secretary ;  resolutions  ofi"ered  by  Wil- 
liam Gray,  and  cordially  supported  by  JJrs.  James 
Jackson,  John  C.  Warren,  and  Hon.  Abbott  Law- 
rence ;  resulting  at  last  in  the  noble  contribution  of 
$62,550,  a  result  far  exceeding  the  most  sanguine 
expectations  of  the  Committee,  being  $12,550  more 
even  than  was  solicited.  And  it  should  always  be 
remembered,  that  it  was  in  an  especial  manner  to  the 
personal  influence  and  exertions  of  Mr.  Rogers,  the 
Chairman,  that  the  Hospital  is  indebted  for  this 
brilliant  result.  He  was  truly  indefatigable,  and 
displayed  throughout  on  this  occasion  most  conspicu- 


184  MISS  Taylor's  illness. 

oiisly  the  same  zeal  and  good  judgment  which  had 
heretofore  so  essentially  promoted  the  interests  and 
welfare  of  the  institution. 

On  Sept.  15,  Messrs.  Andrews  and  Lamb  were 
appointed  a  Committee,  with  full  powers,  to  obtain 
an  engraving  of  the  Asylum.  It  was  executed  ac- 
cordingly. Sept.  29,  Mortimer  B.  Tappan  was 
chosen  Apothecary  in  place  of  Mr.  Gushing,  who 
resigned ;  and  a  purchase,  for  five  hundred  dol- 
lars per  acre,  of  land  adjoining  Wood  worth's  house 
by  the  Asylum,  was  authorized.  Oct.  11,  Henry  A. 
Barrett  was  elected  House  Physician  in  place  of 
Henry  Sargent,  who  had  resigned.  William  P. 
Gibbs's  request  for  leave  to  open  a  window  upon 
the  yard  of  the  Belknap  Estate  was  refused.  Nov. 
8,  certain  changes  were  adopted  in  the  rules  and 
regulations  of  the  Hospital  respecting  the  attendance 
of  students  on  clinical  lectures  or  surgical  operations 
and  the  issue  of  tickets  of  admission. 

On  Dec.  1,  a  letter  from  Dr.  James  Jackson, 
recommending  that  Miss  Rebecca  Taylor  be  con- 
tinued at  the  Hospital  during  her  sickness,  on  ac- 
count of  her  long  and  valuable  services  to  tlie 
institution,  was  read ;  and  it  was  thereupon  voted, 
"  that  the  Trustees,  entirely  concurring  with  the 
opinions  expressed  by  Dr.  Jackson,  expect  that 
Miss  Taylor  will  make  the  Hospital  her  home  dur- 


DR.    bell's    visit    TO    EUROPE.  185 

ing  her  sickness ;  and  that  the  Visiting  Committee  com- 
municate to  her  Dr.  Jackson's  letter,  and  the  action 
of  the  Board  thereon."  Miss  Taylor  is  still  with 
us,  having  been  in  the  institution  twenty-five  years.* 
The  highest  praise  that  could  be  bestowed  on  an 
attendant  at  the  Hospital  would  be,  that  she  was  as 
good  a  nurse  as  Miss  Taylor.  Dec.  1,  the  Butler  Hos- 
pital, of  Rhode  Island,  asking  permission  to  send  Dr. 
Bell  to  Europe  for  some  months,  Mr.  Bowditch  was 
requested  to  send  an  answer  acceding  to  their  re- 
quest, and  to  make  the  necessary  arrangements  with 
Dr.  Bell  for  that  purpose.  The  compliment  thus 
paid  to  Dr.  Bell  was  truly  gratifying,  both  to  him  and 
to  this  institution.  On  Dec.  15,  he  was  authorized 
to  engage  Dr.  Fox  to  assist  Dr.  Booth  during  his 
absence  in  Europe.  Messrs.  J.  A.  Lowell  and  Dexter 
were  appointed  a  Committee,  with  full  powers,  for 
insuring  the  buildings,  both  of  the  Hospital  and 
Asylum.  A  communication  from  John  D.  Wil- 
liams, as  to  the  construction  of  a  reservoir  at  the 
Hospital,  was  referred  to  Messrs.  Rogers  and  Dexter, 
with  full  powers.  The  interest  thus  manifested  by 
Mr.  Williams  was  at  a  later  day  displayed  in  a  mu- 
nificent bequest  to  the  institution.     Messrs.  Wiggles- 


*  On  June  30,  1851,  I  asked  Miss  Taylor  how  long  she  had  been 
connected  with  tlie  Hospital,  and  she  told  me  that  it  was  just  twenty-five 
years  that  very  day . 

24 


186  JOHN  Parker's  bequest. 

worth  and  Andrews  were  appointed  to  prepare   the 
annual  report. 

This  report  is  a  brief  one  of  four  pages.  It  men- 
tions the  payment  of  the  only  remaining  debt  of  the 
institution,  —  viz.  the  ten  thousand  doUars  due  to  the 
Massachusetts  Hospital  Life  Insurance  Company ; 
the  number  of  patients  at  the  Asylum,  seventy-five 
males  and  seventy-seven  females :  total,  one  hundred 
and  fifty-two.  The  prompt  receipt  of  Mr.  Munson's 
legacy  of  twenty  thousand  dollars  from  Charles  Bar- 
nard, Esq.,  his  executor,  was  suitably  acknowledged. 
It  gratefully  announces  the  entire  success  which  had 
attended  the  application  for  the  enlargement  of  the 
Hospital,  and  subjoins  an  extract  from  Mr.  Hogers's 
report,  showing  the  particulars  of  the  noble  subscrip- 
tion which  had  been  obtained.  Dr.  Bell's  report  of 
the  preceding  year  having  been  unusually  full  and 
minute,  his  present  one  is  more  concise  and  general. 
It  occupies  ten  pages.  The  whole  forms  a  pamphlet 
of  twenty-five  pages.  Dec.  27,  twenty-five  males, 
twenty-eight  females  —  total,  fifty-three  —  in  the  Hos- 
pital. 

At  the  annual  meeting,  Jan.  22,  1845,  no  changes 
were  made  in  the  Board  of  Trustees.  At  this  meet- 
ing was  communicated  an  extract  from  the  will  of 
John  Parker,  Esq.,  by  which,  after  the  decease  of  his 
widow,  a  ten  thousand  dollars'  fund  is  given  for  the 


JOY    FARM.  187 

support  of  free  beds,  with  conditions  similar  to  those 
in  the  will  of  the  late  Miss  Brimmer,  viz.,  that  the 
number  of  free  beds  in  the  House  at  his  decease  (i.e. 
thirty-seven)  should  never  be  diminished  ;  Avhich  be- 
quest was  gratefully  accepted.  Motions  were  then 
successively  made  and  rejected,  to  communicate  to 
the  executors  of  Mr.  Parker  the  number  of  said  beds, 
and  to  instruct  the  Trustees  never  to  diminish  that 
number.  On  Feb.  2,  all  the  Medical  and  Surgical 
Officers,  and  those  of  the  two  departments,  were  re- 
elected. Two  thousand  five  hundred  copies  of  the 
annual  report  were  ordered  to  be  printed.  Mr. 
Amory  was  appointed  to  procure  an  index  to  the 
medical  and  surgical  records.  An  Annual  Committee 
was  constituted  to  purchase  books  for  distribution 
under  the  Warren  Fund. 

On  Feb.  16,  the  Farm  School,  having  an  ultimate 
interest  in  the  bequest  of  the  late  John  Parker,  on 
breach  of  condition  by  this  Corporation,  were  in- 
formed of  the  number  of  free  beds  in  the  Hospital  at 
his  decease.  Feb.  25,  the  subject  of  the  expediency 
of  purchasing  the  Joy  Farm  was  referred  to  Messrs. 
Storrow,  Dexter,  and  the  Treasurer ;  who  reported 
that  the  price  asked,  fifty  thousand  dollars,  rendered 
it  inexpedient  to  purchase.  On  March  2,  the  Visiting 
Committee  were  directed  to  inquire  into  the  number 
and  condition  of  the  beds  at  the  Hospital.     March  30, 


188  WILLIAM    RUSSELL.  JOHN    BROWN. 

Miss  Taylor's  wages  were  ordered  to  be  paid  in  full 
during  the  period  of  her  sickness.  Hon.  Edward 
Everett  offered  to  the  Hospital  his  statue  of  Apollo  ; 
and  the  Trustees  presented  to  him  "  their  grateful 
acknowledgments  for  his  beautiful  gift,  valuable  as  a 
memorial,  that,  amidst  his  arduous  public  duties  in  a 
foreign  country,  Mr.  Everett  feels  an  undiminished 
interest  in  the  charitable  institutions  of  his  native 
land."  On  May  4,  a  bequest  of  one  hundred  dollars 
from  the  late  William  E-ussell  was  transmitted,  and 
gratefully  accepted  by  the  Trustees.  The  money  was 
invested  in  silver  spoons  for  the  Asylum.  A  commu- 
nication from  Dr.  Warren  on  the  means  of  prevent- 
ing erysipelas  was  received,  and  referred  to  Messrs. 
Dexter  and  Storrow.  June  15,  Mr.  Joseph  Burnett 
was  requested  to  supply  the  Hospital  with  medicines 
for  one  year,  pursuant  to  a  report  of  Messrs.  Rogers 
and  Amory,  recommending  this  arrangement.  June 
29,  Messrs.  Hooper  and  J.  A.  Lowell  were  appointed 
a  Finance  Committee  to  advise  the  Treasurer  as  to 
investments. 

On  July  11,  a  legacy  of  one  hundred  dollars  from 
the  late  John  Brown,  Esq.,  was  received  and  suitably 
acknowledged.  Mr.  Brown  was  one  of  the  unfortu- 
nate victims  lost  in  the  burning  of  the  "  Lexington." 
Aug.  3,  a  communication  from  Drs.  Warren  and  Big- 
elow,  as   to   a  Lying-in  department,  was  referred  to 


MR.  Goodwin's  resignation.  189 

Messrs.  Rogers,  Amory,  and  F.  C.  Lowell.  Aug.  17; 
John  S.  Flint  was  elected  House  Physician ;  Alfred 
Lambert,  House  Surgeon ;  Francis  A.  Holman, 
Apothecary.  Mr.  Tappan  had  resigned  in  May. 
Sept.  14,  the  Building  Committee  and  Mr.  Dexter 
were  instructed  to  finish  the  two  new  wings.  Sept. 
28,  Dr.  Bowditch  resigned  his  office  of  Assistant 
Physician ;  and,  on  Oct.  10,  Dr.  Samuel  Parkman 
was  elected  as  his  successor ;  and  the  thanks  of  the 
Trustees  were  presented  to  Dr.  Bowditch  for  "the 
fidelity,  ability,  and  zeal "  with  which  he  had  dis- 
charged his  duties.  Messrs.  Amory,  Andrews, 
Bowditch,  Hooper,  and  Rogers  were  appointed  a 
Committee  to  consider  what  changes  are  rendered 
necessary  in  the  discipline  and  organization  of  the 
Hospital,  in  consequence  of  its  increased  size.  Mr. 
Goodwin's  illness  was  announced,  and  the  Visiting 
Committee  were  authorized  to  confer  with  Mr.  Good- 
win as  to  procuring  the  services  of  a  temporary 
Superintendent.  Nov.  2,  Mr.  Francis  A.  Holman 
was  engaged  accordingly. 

A  letter  from  Mr.  Goodwin,  resigning  his  office  of 
Superintendent  of  the  Hospital,  and  a  letter  from 
Mrs.  Goodwin,  accompanying  it,  were  read ;  and  it 
was  voted  that  said  resignation  be  accepted,  and  that 
the  Chairman  and  Mr.  Andrews  be  a  Committee  to 
express  to    Mr.  and    Mrs.   Goodwin    the  feelings    of 


190  DANIEL  Waldo's  bequest. 

respect  and  sympathy  with  which  the  Board  part  with 
them,  and  to  tender  to  them,  on  behalf  of  the  Trus- 
tees, their  heartfelt  sympathy  in  their  present  trials. 
Mr.  Goodwin's  salary  was  ordered  to  be  paid  to  the 
end  of  six  months  after  the  close  of  the  present 
quarter. 

The  Treasurer  and  Mr.  John  A.  Lowell  were 
appointed  a  Committee  to  receive  the  legacy  of  the 
late  Daniel  Waldo.  The  Committee  on  the  subject 
of  a  Lying-in  Hospital  reported  unfavorably,  and  their 
report  was  unanimously  accepted.  Nov.  16,  the 
extract  from  Mr.  Waldo's  will,  which  gives  the  mu- 
nificent sum  of  forty  thousand  dollars  as  a  fund,  the 
income  of  which  is  applicable  generally  to  the  be- 
nevolent objects  of  the  institution,  was  laid  before  the 
Board ;  and  the  Chairman  and  Mr.  Edwards  were 
appointed  a  Committee  to  make  a  suitable  expression 
of  the  thanks  of  the  Trustees. 

This  Committee  were  also  requested  to  obtain,  if 
possible,  portraits  of  Mr.  Waldo  and  Mr.  Munson 
for  this  institution.  The  portraits  of  these  two 
donors  were  procured  accordingly,  and  are  now  in  the 
Trustees'  room  at  the  Hospital,  by  the  side  of  the 
earlier  benefactors  of  the  institution,  the  example  of 
whose  liberality  they  had  so  nobly  imitated.  Nov.  16, 
a  grant  of  three  hundred  dolhirs  was  made  to  Dr. 
John  Fox  for  his  services  during  Dr.  Bell's  visit  to 


MR.  Goodwin's  death.  191 

Europe.  Richard  Girdler,  of  Marblehead,  was  elected 
Superintendent  in  place  of  Mr.  Goodwin,  with  a 
salary  of  one  thousand  dollars. 

A  special  meeting  was  held  Nov.  26 ;  and  the 
death  of  Mr.  Goodwin,  the  late  Superintendent,  being 
announced,  it  was  "  voted  that,  the  Trustees  having  on 
a  recent  occasion  expressed  to  Mr.  Goodwin  the  high 
sense  entertained  by  them  of  his  official  integrity  and 
fidelity,  would  now  respectfully  assure  Mrs.  Goodwin 
of  their  sympathy  for  her  and  her  children,  who  by 
this  event  have  lost  one  so  deservedly  dear  to  them. 
Voted  that  this  Board  will  be  happy  to  unite  in  a 
public  tribute  of  respect  for  the  deceased,  by  attending 
the  funeral  services."  And  copies  of  these  votes  were 
communicated  to  the  family  of  the  deceased. 

Mr.  Goodwin  was  a  person  of  cultivation  and  re- 
finement, of  great  private  worth,  and  of  the  most 
mild  and  amiable  disposition ;  somewhat  wanting, 
perhaps,  in  that  energy  which  had  characterized 
his  predecessor,  Mr.  Gurney.  Mrs.  Goodwin,  like 
her  husband,  had  always  taken  a  deep  interest  in 
the  patients,  and  endeavored  by  all  the  means  in 
her  power  to  promote  their  comfort  and  welfare. 

About  a  week  before  Mr.  Goodwin's  death,  I 
called  to  see  him.  He  was  seated  in  an  arm-chair, 
in  the  Trustees'  room.  It  was  one  of  the  most  charm- 
ing   days    of    the    "  Indian    summer."       The    south- 


192  ANECDOTE. 

west  wind,  cooled  by  its  passage  over  the  water, 
was  admitted  freely  through  the  open  windows  of 
the  apartment.  Pleasure  carriages  and  loaded  vehi- 
cles, in  a  ceaseless  procession,  were  seen  moving 
rapidly  or  slowly  along  the  street,  and  across  the 
bridge  to  which  it  led.  The  river  was  studded 
with  sail-boats  and  other  vessels.  The  distant  hum 
of  voices,  as  it  arose  upon  the  car,  was  drowned 
by  the  merry  laugh  of  children  just  released  from 
the  neighboring  school.  Around  us  were  all  the 
varied  activities  of  a  great  city,  its  full  tide  of  busi- 
ness and  of  happiness.  In  that  quiet  room  sat 
an  old  and  a  dying  man,  consciously  looking,  al- 
most for  the  last  time,  and  with  a  pensive  interest, 
upon  a  scene  in  which  he  was  never  more  to  be 
an  actor.  He  reached  out  his  hand,  and  said,  "  I 
was  thinking  of  how  little  importance  man  is  to 
his  fellow-man ;  how  slight  an  interruption  to  the 
oreat  round  of  affairs  results  from  the  death  of 
even  the  highest  among  us.  It  is  wisely  ordered, 
that  only  a  little  circle  of  those  nearest  to  us  will 
be,  and  that  but  for  a  short  time,  conscious  of  our 
departure.  Yet,"  added  he,  "  to  the  individual 
himself,  how  vast  and  mysterious  the  change ! 
How  inconceivable  that  a  spectacle  like  this  will 
with  me  so  soon  give  place  to  the  darkness  and 
silence  of  the  grave  !  " 


SALARY  TOTED  TO  THE  TREASURER.     /  193 

On  Nov.  30,  a  letter  from  Thomas  Oliver  Walter, 
asking  the  Board  to  release  their  right  to  the  family- 
tomb  of  the  late  Thomas  Oliver,  was  referred  to 
Messrs.  Bowditch  and  Edwards.  Tlie  office  of  Treas- 
urer, the  duties  of  which  had  always  hitherto  been 
performed  gratuitously,  had  now  become  very  oner- 
ous ;  and  it  was  voted  that  there  should  be  attached 
to  it  henceforth  a  salary  of  five  hundred  dollars. 
One  hundred  dollars  was  granted  to  Mr.  Holman 
for  his  services'  as  Superintendent  during  the  illness 
of  Mr.  Goodwin.  A  free  bed  for  life  was  placed 
at  the  disposal  of  John  Tappan,  Esq.,  who  was 
one  of  the  executors  of  the  late  Daniel  Waldo. 
Dec.  14,  the  Committee  on  Mr.  Oliver's  tomb  re- 
ported by  Mr.  Bowditch,  "  that  said  tomb  is  held  by 
this  Corporation,  not  as  their  property,  but  in  trust 
as  the  burial-place  of  Mr.  Oliver  and  his  family." 
Mr.  J.  A,  Lowell  was  requested  to  advise  the 
Treasurer  as  to  investment  of  the  Waldo  Fund. 
Messrs.  Storrow  and  Amory  w^ere  appointed  to  pre- 
pare the  annual  report.  This  report,  like  its  imme- 
diate predecessor,  is  quite  brief,  occupying  but  four 
pages,  and  forming,  with  the  accompanying  docu- 
ments, a  pamphlet  of  twenty-five  pages.  It  states 
the  present  property  of  the  institution,  exclusive  of 
grounds  and  buildings,  at  $238,369.91  ;  mentions 
"  the   receipt  of  $40,000,  the  munificent  bequest  of 

25 


194  RICHARD    GIRDLER,    SUPERINTENDENT. 

the  late  Daniel  Waldo ; "  also  the  extra  dividend 
from  the  Life  Insurance  Company.  It  then  pro- 
ceeds :  — 

"Colonel  John  M.  Goodwin,  who  for  many  years  past 
had  filled  the  office  of  Superintendent  of  the  Hospital,  died 
in  November  last,  after  a  short  and  severe  illness.  The 
Trustees  take  this  occasion  to  bear  testimony  to  the  fidelity 
and  devotion  to  the  interests  of  the  Hospital  which  he 
manifested  throughout  the  period  of  his  connection  with  it. 
During  his  illness,  his  place  was  temporarily  supplied  by 
Dr.  Holman,  the  House  Apothecary;  and  it  has  since  been 
permanently  filled  by  the  appointment  of  Captain  Richard 
Girdler,  who  entered  upon  his  duties  on  the  first  day  of 
December  last.  By  this  appointment,  the  Trustees,  to  some 
of  whom  he  has  long  been  known,  believe  that  they  have 
secured  the  services  of  a  gentleman  perfectly  qualified  by  his 
zeal  and  ability  to  promote  the  welfare  of  the  institution." 

The  weekly  expense  of  each  patient  was  five  dol- 
lars and  iifty-two  cents.  At  the  Asylum,  at  close  of 
the  year,  were  seventy-eight  males,  seventy-three 
females.  Dr.  Bell's  report,  which  is  twelve  pages 
in  length,  is,  as  usual,  clear,  interesting,  and  satis- 
factory. Dec.  25,  twenty-two  males  and  twenty- 
seven  females  were  in  the  Hospital. 

On  Dec.  28,  a  communication  that  windows  had 
been  opened  over  the  Belknap  Estate  was  referred 
to  Mr.  Bowditch  and  the  Treasurer.  The  Com- 
mittee   appointed    Oct.    10   reported  a  new  draft  of 


ENLARGED    MEDICAL    STAFF.  195 

the  rules  and  regulations,  which  was  ordered  to  be 
printed ;    and,  by  a  subsequent  vote,  the  number  of 
copies  was  fixed  at  two   thousand.     Jan.    16,  1846, 
an    application    of    the  widow    of  the    late    George 
Hallet,  to  purchase  a  free  bed  for  life,  was  referred 
to  the  Standing  Committee  on  Free  Beds,  with  full 
power.     At  the   annual  meeting,  Jan.  28,  1846,  the 
proposed  alterations  in  the  by-laws,  received  by  the 
Trustees,    were     adopted.        Theodore     Lyman   was 
elected  Vice-President  in  place  of  Jonathan  Phillips, 
and  J.   Thomas  Stevenson,  Esq.,  a  Trustee  in  place 
of  Mr.  Storrow,  who  severally  declined.     Mr.  William 
W.  Stone  was  subsequently  elected  by  the  Board  of 
Visitors    a    Trustee    in    place    of    Henry    Edwards. 
Votes  of  thanks  were  adopted  by    the  Corporation, 
acknowledging   the    services    of  the    gentlemen  who 
thus  retired.     Mr.  Phillips  was  son  of  our  first  Presi- 
dent and  earliest  benefactor  ;   and  he  had  served  as 
Trustee  for  sixteen  years.      Mr.   Edwards  had  like- 
wise   been    an  active  member  of   the  Board  for  ten 
years.      Among  the  changes  introduced  by  the  new 
rules  and  regulations,  and  rendered  necessary  by  the 
enlargement  of  the  Hospital,  was  the  increase  of  the 
Medical  and  Surgical  Staff. 

Eeb.  1,  there  were  elected,  as  a  Board  of  Consulta- 
tion, Drs,  James  Jackson,  George  C.  Shattuck,  John 
Jeffries,  and  Edward  Reynolds.    Visiting  Physicians, 


196  ENLARGED    MEDICAL    STAFF. 

Jacob  Bigelow,  Enoch  Hale,  John  B.  S.  Jackson, 
Henry  I.  Bowditch,  John  D.  Fisher,  and  Oliver  AV. 
Holmes ;  the  three  last  being  new  appointments. 
Visiting  Surgeons,  Drs.  John  C.  Warren,  George 
Hay  ward,  Solomon  U.  Townsend,  and  Drs.  Henry  J. 
Bigelow,  Samuel  Parkman,  and  J.  Mason  Warren  ; 
the  three  last  being  also  new  appointments.  Admit- 
ting Physician,  Dr.  William  Henry  Thayer.  The 
officers  of  the  two  departments  were  severally  re- 
elected. The  salary  of  the  Steward  of  the  Asylum 
was  raised  to  one  thousand  dollars.  A  Free-bed 
Standing  Committee  was  appointed,  consisting  of 
Messrs.  Rogers  and  J.  A.  Lowell :  Committee  on 
Warren  Fund,  Messrs.  Hogers  and  Andrews  ;  on  the 
Book  of  Donations,  Mr.  Eogers  ;  on  Finance,  Messrs. 
Hooper  and  J.  A.  Lowell.  The  subject  of  a  pend- 
ing petition  for  a  railroad  from  Waltham  to  the  west- 
erly part  of  Boston  was  referred  to  Mr.  Bowditch, 
with  power  to  employ  counsel  to  oppose  the  same ; 
Messrs.  Stevenson  and  J.  A.  Lowell  were  appointed 
to  oppose  any  modification  of  the  charters  for  life 
insurance  which  might  jeopardize  the  interests  of 
this  institution  ;  —  both  which  Committees  reported  a 
satisfactory  result  at  the  next  meeting.  Two  thou- 
sand copies  of  the  annual  report  were  ordered  to 
be  printed. 

On  Feb.  22,  in  answer  to  a  communication  of  Dr. 


JEREMIAH    AND    MARY    BELKNAP.  197 

John  C.  Warren,  inquiring  the  views  of  this  Board 
as  to  the  erection  of  a  Medical  College  in  this  vicinity, 
a  vote  was  passed  "  that  they  cannot  perceive  any 
advantage  to  this  institution  to  arise  therefrom." 
March  1,  a  safe  was  ordered  for  the  use  of  the  Super- 
intendent at  Hospital.  March  *29,  a  letter  from  Dr. 
Bell,  recommending  open  fireplaces  in  parts  of  the 
Belknap  Ward  at  the  Asylum,  was  referred  to  the 
Visiting  Committee.  May  3,  Messrs.  Andrews  and 
Dexter  were  appointed  a  Committee  "  to  erect  a  suita- 
ble monument  to  the  memory  of  Jeremiah  and  Mary 
Belknap,  with  full  powers."  Five  hundred  dollars 
was  placed  at  the  disposal  of  Dr.  Bell  for  the  relief 
of  poor  patients.  Mr.  Dexter  reported  that  the  new 
wing  would  be  ready  for  occupancy  in  the  present 
week ;  and  the  subject  of  inviting  the  benefactors  to 
visit  the  Hospital  was  referred  to  the  Visiting  Com- 
mittee. Such  an  invitation  ^vas  accordingly  issued, 
and  large  numbers  availed  themselves  of  it.  May  17, 
Dr.  Bell's  expenses  to  Washington,  to  attend  a  late 
meeting  of  the  Superintendents  of  Insane  Institutions, 
were  ordered  to  be  paid.  The  subject  of  building  a 
new  kitchen,  and  of  ventilating  the  (old)  east  wing  of 
the  Hospital,  was  referred  to  the  Building  Committee, 
who  reported  in  favor  of  both  measures  ;  the  esti- 
mated expense  of  the  kitchen,  as  reported  by  Mr. 
Dexter,  being  ten  thousand  dollars. 

On  June  28,  a  certain  gate  erected  by  the  Corpora- 


198  JOHN  Redman's  bequest. 

tion  was  declared  to  be  with  the  sufferance  and  per- 
mission of  the  devisees  of  Mr.  Joy.  John  C.  Dalton, 
jiin.,  was  elected  House  Apothecary  in  the  place  of 
Dr.  Holman,  who  had  asked  to  be  released  from  his 
duties.  From  July  1  to  July  31,  there  were  seven 
deaths  at  the  Hospital,  though  there  had  been  but 
nine  during  the  whole  preceding  quarter.  On  Aug. 
12,  Dr.  Charles  Bertody  was  chosen  House  Physician, 
and  Dr.  Charles  F.  Heywood,  House  Surgeon,  for  the 
year  ensuing.  Aug.  30,  the  wings  of  the  dwelling- 
house  at  the  Asylum  were  ordered  to  be  raised  one 
story ;  Mr.  Dexter,  Dr.  Bell,  and  Mr.  Tyler  bemg  a 
Committee,  with  full  powers.  Oct.  16,  books  were 
ordered  to  be  kept  as  a  record  of  all  out-door  patients. 
Oct.  21,  an  annual  extra  grant  of  five  hundred  dollars 
was  ordered  henceforth  to  be  made  to  Dr.  Bell,  in 
addition  to  his  regular  salary ;  he  having  filled  his 
office  for  "  ten  years  to  the  high  satisfaction  of  the 
Trustees,  and  benefit  of  the  institution."  Nov.  22,  this 
act  of  the  Board  was  acknowledged  in  a  letter  from 
Dr.  Bell,  so  gratifying  to  the  Board  that  it  was 
ordered  to  be  copied  in  their  records.  The  Superin- 
tendent of  the  Hospital  was  authorized  to  purchase  a 
chair  on  wheels  for  the  use  of  the  patients.  Dec.  6, 
a  copy  of  the  will  of  the  late  John  Redman,  making 
this  institution  his  residuary  devisee  (after  certain 
trusts  which  will  last  during  the  life-time  of  a  son  of 
a   feeble  intellect),  was   laid  before  the  Board ;   and 


JOHN    REDMAN  S    PROPERTY. 


199 


this  munificent  bequest  of  what  will  prove  to  be  at 
least  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  Avas  most  grate- 
fully accepted.  In  view  of  his  son's  situation,  he  had 
intended  to  leave  all  his  property  to  the  city  on  cer- 
tain trusts.  He  consulted  the  late  Hon.  John  R. 
Adan,  who  satisfied  him  that  the  practical  eff"ect  of 
such  a  devise  would  merely  be  a  very  slight  reduc- 
tion of  taxes  of  the  citizens,  for  which  no  one  would 
thank  him.  The  whole  property  thus  bequeathed  to 
us  results  from  the  increased  value  of  the  various 
parcels  of  real  estate  in  Boston,  judiciously  selected 
by  Mr.  Redman,  and  purchased  as  from  time  to  time 
he  found  an  opportunity.  On  the  back  of  his  will  is 
an  enumeration  of  these  estates,  the  first  cost  of  each, 
the  amount  of  mortgage,  and  their  present  estimated 
value.  It  is  a  document  which  gives  striking  evi- 
dence of  the  testator's  sagacity  and  good  judgment.* 


*  This  inemorandum  on  Mr.  Redman's  will  was  as  follows  : 


Chamber-street  Estate 

31,  Washington  Street 

Milk  Street 

Chauncy  Place 

Wasiiington  and  Summer  Streets  t  . 
Wlieeler  Estate,  Washington  Street 

Melodeon 

Essex  and  Washington  Streets      .     . 
Bacon  Lot,  Washington  Street      .     . 

Utica  Street 

Temple  Street 

Flats  by  South  Bridge 

South  iJoston 

Roxbury 

Cambridgeport 

Snodon  Lot,  Roxbury 


Cost. 

Value. 

Difference. 

$16,000 

$17,000 

$1,000 

22,0U0 

30,000 

8,000 

50,000 

60,000 

10,000 

19,000 

20,000 

1,000 

60,000 

80,000 

20,000 

10,000 

15,000 

5,000 

45,000 

78,000 

83,000 

22,0U0 

33,000 

11,000 

36,000 

45,000 

9,000 

25,000 

30,000 

5,000 

4,500 

4,500 

9,500 

15,000 

5,500 

2,200 

3,000 

800 

4,400 

4,600 

200 

1,000 

1,500 

500 

2,100 

2,100 

1328,700 

$438,700 

$110,000 

t  This  estate  was  sold  for  $91,548.66,  making  a  further  gain  of  a5!l4,548.66. 


200  ANNUAL   REPORT. 

Messrs.  Stevenson  and  Stone  were  appointed  to  pre- 
pare the  annual  report. 

This  report  occupies  five  pfiges,  and  with  the  ac- 
companying documents  forms  a  pamphlet  of  twenty- 
five  pages.  It  states  the  income  of  the  year,  at 
$24,415.52,  and  the  expenses  at  $24,318.91  ;  weekly 
expenses  of  each  patient  at  Hospital,  $6.43  ;  twenty- 
two  out-door  patients  treated  during  the  year ;  the 
new  west  wing  finished  and  occupied  since  July  last ; 
the  erection  of  the  new  separate  kitchen.  It  tenders 
the  thanks  of  the  Trustees  to  the  annual  subscribers 
for  free  beds ;  mentions  that  information  had  been 
received  that  Mr.  John  Redman  had  made  this  insti- 
tution his  residuary  legatee  ;  and  states  that  "  the  con- 
dition of  the  M'Lean  Asylum  justifies  its  reputation." 
Its  expenses  during  the  year  have  been  $32,892  ;  its 
receipts,  about  $1,300  more  than  that  sum..  Mr. 
Girdler's  report  occupies  four  pages,  containing  vari- 
ous interesting  analyses  and  abstracts,  showing  the 
condition  of  the  department  under  his  care.  Dr. 
Bell's  report  occupies  nine  pages.  It  contains  a  table 
of  admissions  and  results  for  the  last  ten  years.  It 
closes  as  follows :  "  I  cannot  deprive  myself  of  the 
pleasure  of  again  expressing  my  acknowledgments 
for  the  uniformly  intelligent  and  harmonious  mode  in 
which  I  have  been  supported  by  all  those  so  many 
years  associated  with  me  in  these  labors." 


MICROSCOPE    PURCHASED.  201 

Dec.  20,  "  a  letter  from  Dr.  William  T.  G.  Morton 
offering  to  the  Hospital  the  right  to  use  his  discovery 
for  the  alleviation  of  pain  in  surgical  operations  Avas 
read  ;  and  it  was  voted  that  the  offer  of  Dr.  Morton 
be  accepted,  and  that  the  Secretary  be  directed  to 
return  the  thanks  of  the  institution  to  Dr.  Morton  in 
behalf  of  this  Board."  The  report  of  Mr.  Rogers 
on  the  subject  of  a  Lying-in  Hospital  was  taken  from 
the  files,  and  loaned  to  Dr.  Homans  for  the  use  of 
the  Trustees  of  the  Lying-in  Hospital.  It  was  an 
extremely  interesting  and  able  document.  Dec.  31, 
in  Hospital  twenty-four  males,  forty-three  females : 
total,  sixty-seven.  Jan.  20,  1847,  a  communication 
from  the  State  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Company,  as 
to  their  liability  to  pay  part  of  their  profits  to  the 
Hospital,  was  referred  to  Messrs.  Stevenson  and  Bow- 
ditch. 

xlt  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Corporation,  Jan.  2T, 
1847,  the  same  officers  were  re-elected;  the  Board 
of  Visitors  subsequently  choosing  J.  Wiley  Edmands, 
Esq.,  Trustee  in  place  of  William  W.  Stone,  who 
declined  a  re-election,  and  was  thanked  for  his  ser- 
vices. Feb.  14,  there  was  not  a  single  change  in  any 
of  the  officers  chosen  or  committees  appointed  in  the 
preceding  year.  Two  thousand  copies  were  ordered 
of  the  annual  report.  Feb.  28,  one  of  Oberhausser's 
microscopes  was  ordered  to  be  purchased  for  use  of 

26 


202  HOSPITAL    FENCE. 

Admitting  Physician,  at  the  cost  of  fifty  dollars.  A 
grant  of  fifty  dollars  was  made  to  Dr.  Thayer,  the 
Admitting  Physician,  in  addition  to  his  salary  for 
the  past  year.  March  14,  the  Board  suggest  that  the 
exception  in  the  rules  as  to  the  admission  of  patients, 
allowing  the  Physicians  and  Surgeons  to  send  them, 
applies  only  to  cases  of  emergency,  where  a  delay  of 
a  few  hours  would  be  attended  with  serious  con- 
sequences. This  vote  was  subsequently  rescinded, 
June  2.  April  26,  twenty-five  dollars  was  voted 
towards  buying  a  wooden  leg  for  Ann  Kerr,  a  patient 
in  the  Hospital.  April  21,  five  hundred  dollars  was 
appropriated  towards  aiding  the  poorer  patients  at  the 
Asylum.  May  9,  Messrs.  Dexter  and  Rogers  were 
appointed  a  Committee  respecting  a  new  fence  round 
the  Hospital-grounds,  with  directions  to  ascertain  the 
probable  cost,  &c. 

On  May  23,  a  case  of  a  post-mortem  examina- 
tion, alleged  to  have  been  made  contrary  to  the 
wishes  of  friends,  was  discussed  ;  and  directions  were 
given  to  the  officer  who  had  performed  the  same. 
June  2,  a  special  meeting  was  held,  attended  by  Drs, 
Warren  and  Bigelow ;  and  the  Physicians  and  Sur- 
ijeons  were  authorized  to  make  reo^ulations  as  to 
the  treatment  of  out-door  patients,  and  the  dispens- 
ing of  medicines  to  them.  June  27,  the  new  east 
wing  being  completed,  the  contributors  and  the  pub- 


superintendent's  salary  increased.         203 

lie  were  invited  to  visit  it.  The  Committee  on  the 
Monument  to  Jeremiah  and  Mary  Belknap  reported, 
that,  after  consultation  with  the  family  of  the  de- 
ceased, they  had  erected  an  appropriate  monument. 
Plans  and  estimates  of  a  new  fence  were  submitted 
by  the  Committee  on  that  subject.  Nothing,  however, 
has  yet  been  done :  the  old  and  unsightly  fence  still 
stands.  A  neighbor  once  said  to  me  :  "  Your  institu- 
tion always  reminds  me  of  a  fine,  likely-looking  man 
disfigured  by  a  rusty  coat  and  a  '  shocking  bad  hat.' " 
The  Visiting  Committee's  record  of  July  2,  1847, 
as  made  up  by  Messrs.  Stevenson  and  Bowditch,  has 
the  following  entry :  "  One  of  our  patients  having 
been  discovered  to  have  the  itch.  Dr.  Holmes  was 
directed  to  discharge  her  as  soon  as  it  can  be  done 
with  safety  to  her,  and  was  instructed  never  to  permit 
any  similar  admission."  On  July  16,  the  entry  is 
made :  "  The  new  east  wing  is  now  open  for  the 
reception  of  patients."  Aug.  10,  Dr.  Ralph  K.  Jones 
and  John  G.  Sewall  were  elected  House  Physicians  ; 
Thomas  Andrews,  jun.,  and  John  C.  Dalton,  jun., 
House  Surgeons  ;  John  E.  Hathaway,  Apothecary, 
whose  salary  is  to  be  (if  he  is  re-elected)  $250  for 
the  first  year,  |300  for  the  second  year,  |350  for  the 
third  year.  Oct.  3,  the  salary  of  the  Superintendent, 
in  consequence  of  his  increased  duties,  and  the  highly 
acceptable  manner  in  which  they  were  performed,  was 


204  WILLIAM  Oliver's  bequest. 

increased,  in  July  1,  to  fifteen  hundred  dollars.     On 
Oct.  15,  the  free  beds  were  now  fixed  at  eighty. 

Nov.  7,  the  Visiting  Committee  reported  against 
the  word  "  free  "  being  added  to  the  tickets  over  the 
beds  of  the  patients,  to  distinguish  free  from  pay 
patients.  On  Nov.  21,  a  communication  from  Dr. 
Henry  I.  Bowditch,  as  to  the  formation  of  a  Medical 
Library  at  the  Hospital,  was  referred  to  Messrs.  Rogers 
and  Amory,  who  subsequently  recommended  an  ap- 
propriation of  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  for  that 
purpose.  The  devisees  of  Mr.  Joy  desiring  to  sell 
their  farm,  and  with  a  view  of  testing  the  title,  the 
Hospital  agreed  to  buy,  and  a  case  was  made  for  the 
Supreme  Judicial  Court.  Dec.  5,  a  communication 
was  received  from  the  executors  of  the  late  William 
Oliver ;  and  the  Board  expressed  their  gratitude  for 
his  liberal  bequest.  Messrs.  Bowditch  and  Edmands 
were  appointed  a  Committee  to  prepare  the  annual 
report.  Dec.  31,  in  Hospital,  thirty-seven  males, 
seventy-seven  females  :  Americans,  fifty-one  ;  foreign- 
ers, sixty-three.  Jan.  14, 1848,  Dr.  Thayer  presented 
the  first  volume  of  his  Index  to  the  Medical  Records, 
and  was  thanked  for  "  the  very  satisfactory  manner  in 
which  it  was  executed."  Jan.  19,  a  writ  served  on  the 
Corporation  in  favor  of  William  Sohier  was  referred 
to  Mr.  Bowditch,  with  full  powers.  This  was  the 
amicable  suit  to  try  the  title  of  the  Joy  Estate.     Dr. 


LIBERAL    DONATIONS.  205 

Thayer  to  be  paid  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars 
per  volume  for  these  records. 

Summary.  —  No  similar  previous  period  of  the  his- 
tory of  the  Hospital  was  in  all  respects  more  brilliant 
and  successful  than  that  which  had  now  closed.  The 
capacity  of  the  Hospital  had  been  doubled  by  the 
erection  of  two  new  wings  and  the  new  kitchen. 
The  Belknap  Estate  in  Washington  Street  had  been 
rebuilt.  The  noble  public  subscription  of  $62,550  ; 
the  ten  thousand  dollars'  donation  of  Mr.  Appleton  ; 
the  bequests  of  Messrs.  Waldo  and  Munson  of  forty 
thousand  and  twenty  thousand  dollars  ;  and  the  be- 
quests of  John  Parker,  William  Oliver,  and  John 
Redman,  which,  being  subject  to  life-interests,  have 
not  yet  been  received,  but  which  will  eventually  be 
ten  thousand,  fifty  thousand,  and  one  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars  respectively  ;  with  several  other  smaller 
but  gratifying  donations,  —  distinguish  this  period  of 
five  years  from  all  its  predecessors.  The  death  of  one 
faithful  ofiicer  (Mr.  Goodwin)  had  led  to  the  appoint- 
ment of  the  present  highly  acceptable  incumbent.  A 
fitting  tribute  of  respect  had  been  paid  to  the  memory 
of  Jeremiah  and  Mary  Belknap.  But,  above  all,  the 
close  of  this  period  was  signalized  by  the  ether  dis- 
covery. The  importance  of  this  discovery  induced 
the    Committee   for    preparing   the  annual  report  at 


206  MISS  SARAH  clough's  bequest. 

this  time  to  give  it  their  especial  consideration,  and 
decides  me  now  to  devote  a  separate  chapter  to  that 
part  of  their  report.  This  report  is  the  longest  ever 
published  (fifty-four  pages),  making,  with  the  docu- 
ments attached,  a  pamphlet  of  seventy-two  pages.  It 
alludes  in  the  following  terms  to  several  of  the  most 
recent  donations.  Of  John  Redman's  bequest  it  says  : 
"  As  the  legacy  of  a  Boston  mechanic,  this  will  ever 
be  a  truly  memorable  instance  of  munificence  ;  while 
its  amount  entitles  the  donor  to  be  ranked  among  the 
very  first  benefactors  of  this  institution."  After  men- 
tioning the  suitable  acknowledgment  of  Mr.  Oliver's 
bounty,  the  report  proceeds  :  "  With  no  less  gratitude 
have  the  Trustees  acknowledged  another  legacy  of  an 
especially  interesting  character  received  within  this 
period.  Miss  Sarah  Clough  (for  many  years  a  valued 
and  confidential  domestic  in  the  family  of  Joseph  W. 
Revere,  Esq.,  of  this  city)  bequeathed  to  this  institu- 
tion the  residue  of  her  property,  the  little  savings  of 
her  own  personal  labors.  The  amount  which  has 
been  paid  to  the  Treasurer,  pursuant  to  this  bequest, 
is  $599.84.  There  never  has  been  a  donation,  what- 
ever its  magnitude,  more  honorable  either  to  the  donor 
or  to  the  institution.  These  new  evidences  of  sympa- 
thy and  approval  cannot  fail  to  stimulate  us  all  to 
continued  and  renewed  exertions  in  the  discharge 
of  the    public   trusts    confided    to    us."     The  report 


STATE    OF    THE    INSTITUTION.  207 

states  the  whole  invested  property  of  the  Hospital 
at  1168,092.88;  cost  of  Hospital,  $249,572.38 ;  and 
of  the  Asylum,  $246,850.98.  It  gives  timely  notice 
that  in  A.D.  1916  the  Province  House  will  revert 
to  the  institution.  It  states  that  the  current  expenses 
of  the  Hospital  required  |20,710.25  to  be  paid  from 
the  general  funds.  It  describes  the  present  condition 
of  the  Hospital  as  follows  :  — 

"  The  condition  of  the  Hospital  in  Boston  was  never,  at 
any  former  period,  more  entirely  satisfactory.  The  exten- 
sive improvements  which  were  projected  a  few  years  since, 
and  which  the  munificence  of  the  public  alone  rendered 
practicable,  are  now  entirely  completed.  Two  new  wings 
have  been  erected,  of  which  the  one  last  finished  was 
opened  for  the  reception  of  patients  during  the  past  sum- 
mer. In  these  wings  are  four  wards,  each  about  fifty  feet 
square.  Upon  entering  one  of  these  apartments,  the  visi- 
tor sees  a  floor  beautifully  polished,  walls  and  ceilings  of 
great  simplicity  and  elegance,  and  twenty  neat  iron  bed- 
steads arranged  around  at  regular  intervals,  with  their 
clean  coverings  and  curtains.  The  ventilation  is  excellent, 
and  the  air  in  these  wards  is  generally  as  pure  as  could  be 
desired.  The  old  wings  have  also  been  entirely  remodelled, 
chiefly  for  the  purpose  of  introducing  the  same  satistjictory 
system  of  ventilation.  An  entirely  distinct  brick  building, 
of  large  size,  has  been  erected,  designed  for  all  the  domestic 
operations  of  cooking,  washing,  ironing,  &c.  ;  and  contain- 
ing excellent  cellars,  store-rooms,  &c.  The  most  exact  and 
particular  housekeeper  may  well  look  with  admiration  upon 
the  various  details  of  the  very  perfect  arrangements  of  this 


208  GEORGE    M.    DEXTER's    SERVICES. 

building-.  It  is  connected  with  the  main  edifice  by  a  covered 
passage-way  ;  and,  by  means  of  dumb-waiters,  articles  sent 
from  the  kitchen  are  speedily  distributed  throughout  the  dif- 
ferent wards.  A  new  entrance  has  been  made  into  the  Hos- 
pital-yard, and  a  new  avenue  laid  out.  Nothing  is  wanting, 
except  a  brick  wall  or  iron  railing  to  enclose  the  grounds. 
To  this  object,  as  being  one  of  mere  ornament,  the  Trustees 
have  not  felt  justified  in  applying  the  funds  of  the  institution. 
There  is,  however,  reason  to  believe,  that,  at  no  very  distant 
day,  the  present  unsightly  fence  may  give  place  to  one  of  a 
more  durable  material  and  elegant  design. 

"  These  improvements  enable  us  to  accommodate  one 
hundred  and  forty-one,  or,  if  need  be,  one  hundred  and 
fifty  patients,  instead  of  sixty ;  or,  in  other  words,  have 
nearly  trebled  our  means  of  usefulness.  They  have  been 
executed  under  the  superintendence  of  George  M.  Dexter, 
Esq.,  one  of  the  Trustees,  upon  whose  taste  and  skill  as 
an  architect  they  reflect  the  highest  credit.  The  expense 
attending  these  measures  has  been  very  great,  —  much 
greater  than  was  at  first  estimated.  This,  indeed,  is  partly 
owing  to  the  fact  that  so  much  more  has  been  done  than 
was  originally  contemplated  by  the  Trustees ;  the  whole 
institution  having  been,  as  it  were,  renovated.  The  total 
cost  has  been  $103,276,  besides  $20,000  called  for,  but 
not  yet  paid, — making  $123,276,  and  being  double  the 
whole  amount  of  the  public  subscription  of  1844.  Fortu- 
nately it  has  not  been  found  necessary  to  sell  any  of  the 
permanently  invested  stocks  of  the  institution ;  there  having 
been  received  from  the  Massachusetts  Hospital  Life  Insur- 
ance Company,  since  these  improvements  Avere  undertaken, 
three  annual  dividends  of  $9,000  each,  and  one  extra  divi- 
dend of  $24,000,  making  in  all  no  less  a  sum  than  $51,000. 
The  result,  however,  has  been  the  reduction  of  those  funds. 


COST    OF    ENLARGEMENT    OF    HOSPITAL.  209 

the  income  of  which  was  important  to  meet  tlie  increased 
current  expenses  of  the  institution,  which  will  henceforth 
involve  the  support  of  twice  our  former  number  of  free  beds. 
The  receipts  during  the  past  year  from  individual  subscrip- 
tions ($3,100)  and  from  funds,  the  income  of  which  is 
specially  appropriated  to  this  object  (viz.  the  donation  of 
Hon.  David  Sears,  and  the  legacies  of  the  Messrs.  Phillips 
and  Belknap,  and  of  the  late  Misses  Tucker  and  Brimmer), 
were  sufficient  only  for  the  maintenance  of  forty-one  free 
beds.  To  this  increase  of  the  number  of  free  beds,  the 
Trustees  feel  pledged  by  their  circular,  issued  in  1844,  ask- 
ing for  subscriptions.  Any  annual  deficiency  which  might 
otherwise  occur  will,  however,  we  trust,  be  obviated  by  the 
aid  of  an  increased  number  of  annual  contributors.  We 
doubt,  indeed,  if  it  is  possible  for  any  one  to  do  more  good 
in  a  year  Avith  the  sum  of  a  himdred  dollars,  than  by  devot- 
ing it  to  the  maintenance  of  a  free  bed  in  the  Hospital. 

"  That  this  enlargement  of  our  buildings  had  become 
necessary,  seems  proved  by  the  fiict,  that,  of  the  eighty  free 
beds,  all  except  three  were  actually  occupied  on  the  first  of 
January,  1848  ;  and  it  should  be  remembered,  that  two  are, 
as  far  as  possible,  always  reserved  for  cases  of  sudden  acci- 
dent;  such  cases,  by  a  fundamental  rule  of'the  institution, 
being  admissible  without  any  previous  permit. 

"  A  large  amount  of  relief  is  administered  to  out-door 
patients.  This  class  has,  however,  of  course  diminished 
since  the  opening  of  the  new  wings  ;  many  of  them  being 
doubtless  now  admitted  as  inmates.  This  increase  of  our 
establishment  has  rendered  it  necessary  to  double  the  for- 
mer number  of  physicians  and  surgeons ;  the  present 
number  being  twelve.  The  labors  and  responsibility  of 
Capt.  Girdler,  the  Superintendent,  have  also  been  greatly 
increased.     For    this   reason,  and    because    his    duties   have 

27 


210  MEDICAL    RECORDS. 

always  been  performed  in  a  manner  so  uniformly  acceptable 
to  all  connected  witli  the  institution,  the  Trustees  recently 
voted  to  enlarge  his  salary  by  an  annual  gi'ant  of  five  hun- 
dred dollars.  The  neatness,  taste,  vigilance,  and  kindness 
of  Mrs.  Girdler  have  caused  the  Trustees  to  entertain  an 
equally  high  sense  of  the  value  of  her  services  as  Matron. 
There  has,  indeed,  been  a  general  disposition  manifested 
on  the  part  of  all  the  resident  officers,  attendants,  and 
nurses,  to  treat  the  jiatients  with  that  attention,  tenderness, 
and  consideration  which  is  tlieir  due.  Any  charge  of  fail- 
ure or  omission  in  tliis  respect  would  be  sure  to  receive 
from  this  Board  the  most  prompt  notice  and  the  strictest 
investigation. 

"To  Dr.  William  H.  Tliayer,  our  Admitting  Physician, 
the  Trustees  are  indebted  for  a  folio  volume,  just  com- 
pleted, which  forms  a  most  valuable  index  to  the  hundred 
and  twenty-six  volumes  of  medical  reports  of  cases  in  the 
Hospital.  It  contains,  classified  under  the  head  of  each 
separate  disease  (260  in  number),  all  the  cases  wliich  have 
been  treated  from  1821  to  1845,  with  the  result  of  the 
treatment,  and  a  reference  to  the  book  and  page  where  the 
details  of  each  case  may  be  found.  We  trust  that  he  will 
proceed  to  render  equally  accessible  the  records  of  the 
surgical  department  of  the  Hospital. 

"  A  small  sum  has  been  appropriated  for  the  formation  of 
a  Medical  Library,  to  consist  of  books  of  reference,  for  tlie 
use  of  the  Physicians  and  Surgeons  ;  and  an  annual  appro- 
priation will  probably  be  continued  for  this   object." 

Among  the  documents  annexed  is  a  table,  showing 
the  results  of  the  admissions  at  the  Hospital  from  its 
establishment  in   1821  ;  being  the   first  table  of  the 


m'lean  asylum.  211 

sort  ever  prepared  for  that  department,  and  contain- 
ing slight  errors  and  discrepancies,  which  do  not 
aifect  its  general  results.  These  errors  consist  in 
the  Superintendent's  having  omitted  from  the  list  of 
discharges  all  patients  not  treated,  though  they  were 
in  the  list  of  patients  received.  This  alone  made  an 
error  of  twenty-seven  in  one  year.  The  series  of 
numbers  remaining  at  the  end  of  each  year  was 
also  made  erroneous  by  each  number  being  placed 
one  year  out  of  the  way.  I  was  at  the  time  unable 
to  ascertain  or  correct  these  mistakes  ;  and  therefore, 
in  preparing  this  report  as  Chairman  of  the  Com- 
mittee, I  appended  to  the  table  in  question  a  note 
that  it  had  "  a  few  slight  inaccuracies."  It  is  be- 
lieved, however,  that  the  table  prepared  at  the  end  of 
this  history  is  strictly  accurate  in  all  particulars,  as 
framed  from  the  official  reports  of  each  year  ;  and 
that  its  results  may  be  depended  on  with  entire 
confidence.  Mr.  Girdler's  and  Dr.  Bell's  reports 
occupy  four  and  five  pages  respectively.  The  report 
closes  with  the  following  notice  of  this  department  of 
the  institution :  — 

"  There  have  been  under  treatment,  during  the  year,  three 
hundred  and  forty-three  inmates,  of  whom  eighty-seven  have 
recovered,  and  thirty -three  have  died.  The  number  remain- 
ing, Dec.  31,  1847,  Avas  one  hundred  and  seventy-three. 
The  whole  number  received  from  the  opening  of  the  Asylum, 
Oct.  6,  A.  D.  1818,  to  this  time,  is  2,864. 


212  m'lean  asylum. 

"The  M'Lean  Asylum  has  continued,  during  the  past 
year,  to  be  conducted  upon  those  salutary  principles  Avhich 
the  experience  of  later  times,  in  respect  to  treatment  of 
the  insane,  has  introduced  into  this  department  of  medical 
science. 

"  The  day  of  physical  restraints  and  coercion  has  passed 
away  for  ever.  Kindness,  amusements,  opportunities  of 
exercise,  and  agreeable  employments,  are  now  our  chief 
remedial  agents.  The  item  of  '  diversions  '  has  its  definite 
place  in  all  our  quarterly  accounts  of  expenditures.  The 
natural  beauties  of  our  situation,  with  its  extensive  pros- 
pects,—  our  garden,  with  its  terraces  and  its  pond, — the 
bowling  alleys,  tlie  billiard  room,  the  dancing  hall,  the  sew- 
ing circle,  —  have  solaced  and  done  mucli  to  restore  many 
an  inmate  of  our  institution.  As  a  pleasing  manifestation 
of  the  desire  felt  by  its  officers  to  afford  innocent  gratifica- 
tion to  those  under  their  charge,  we  may  mention,  that  (a 
reservoir  having  been  constructed  near  the  summer-house, 
and  pipes  laid  from  it)  the  garden  has  this  year  received  the 
additional  ornament  of  a  marble  basin,  tenanted  with  gold 
and  silver  fish,  and  having  a  small  but  graceful  jet  rising 
from  its  midst.  The  Trustees  liave  also  been,  as  usual, 
much  gratified  by  promoting  the  same  objects,  as  they  had 
opportunity,  during  their  weekly  visits.  Any  trifiing  atten- 
tions, which  we  have  been  enabled  to  pay  upon  such 
occasions,  have  always  been  agreeably  received  and  kindly 
acknowledged. 

"The  Board  are  aware  that  three  railroads  already  pass 
very  near  to  the  enclosed  grounds  of  the  Asylum.  Still 
another  has  been  applied  for  at  the  present  session  of  the 
Legislature.  A  Committee  has  been  appointed  to  prevent, 
if  possible,  by  a  most  earnest  remonstrance,  a  measure  so 
prejudicial  to  the  welfare  of  this  dcpartuient  of  our  insti- 
tution. 


SICKNESS    AND    DEATH    OF    PATIENTS.  213 

"  The  past  season  has  been  remarkable  for  the  prevalence 
of  dysentery  throughout  this  vichiity,  and  it  will  long  be 
remembered  with  peculiar  sadness  by  those  connected  with 
the  Asylum.  Between  July  26  and  Sept.  20,  no  less  than 
seventy  decided  cases  occurred  among  the  patients,  whose 
whole  number  did  not,  within  that  period,  exceed  one  hun- 
dred and  seventy  :  twelve  of  these  cases  terminated  fiitally. 
Of  those  who  died,  there  were  several  who  had  been  with 
us  for  a  long  series  of  years,  whose  recovery  was  hopeless. 
Others,  on  the  contrary,  had  been  with  us  but  a  short  time, 
and  might,  after  a  brief  interval,  have  carried  back  joy  and 
happiness  to  the  circles  of  family  and  friendship.  jNIore 
than  one  death  we  can  recall,  which  must  have  inspired  in 
those  to  whom  the  patients  were  dear,  feelings  of  the  most 
severe  grief  and  disappointment.  There  were,  besides,  ten 
cases  of  this  disease  among  the  household  at  the  jNI'Lean 
Asylum  during  tiie  same  period.  That,  of  those  attacked, 
so  large  a  proportion  recovered,  cannot  fail  to  excite  surprise 
and  gratitude.  We  doubt  not  that  the  result  mav,  in  no  in- 
considerable  degree,  be  attributed  to  the  unremitting  efforts 
of  the  officers  and  attendants,  whose  zeal,  patience,  and 
self-denial  are  most  fully  acknowledged  in  the  report  of  the 
Physician  and  Superintendent.  Mr.  Tyler,  our  Steward, 
was  prostrated  by  this  disease ;  and  his  recovery  was  so 
slow,  that,  for  some  time,  the  Trustees  were  apprehensive 
lest  he  should  find  his  strength  insufficient  for  a  continu- 
ance of  those  duties  which  he  has  so  long  and  so  ably 
performed.  He  has  the  best  wishes  of  the  Board  for  his 
speedy  and  entire  restoration  to  health  and  strength. 

"  While  oppressed  by  unusual  official  cares  and  anxieties. 
Dr.  Bell,  our  Physician  and  Superintendent,  was  called  to 
experience     the    bitterness    of    repeated    domestic    bereave- 


214  DEATH    OF    TWO    CHILDREN    OF    DR.    BELL. 

ments.  His  second  child,*  a  daughter  of  ten  years  of  ag-e, 
of  a  bright  and  sunny  disposition,  with  rare  moral  and  intel- 
lectual endowments,  —  and  another,  an  interesting  boy, f  of 
five  years  of  age,  —  within  a  few  short  weeks,  fell  victims, 
the  one  to  this  epidemic,  the  other  to  consumption.  To 
the  afflicted  parents  we  present  the  assurance  of  the  pro- 
found and  respectful  sympathy  of  the  Trustees.  Now  that 
the  loved  ones  of  earth  have  been  taken,  may  these  mourn- 
ers the  better  see  Heaven's  love !  May  their  grief  be 
soothed  by  the  gentle  ministry  of  time, — by  the  hallowed 
memories  of  the  past,  the  high  duties  of  the  present,  and 
the  sacred  hopes  of  the  future  !  " 

*  Mary  Frances  died  Aug.  22.  t  Henry  James  died  Oct.  3. 


215 


CHAPTER    IX. 

1847-1849. 

The  Ether  Discovert,  and  Controversy  between  Drs.  Morton  and 
Jackson.  —  List  of  more  than  tavo  dozen  Pamphlets. — Extracts 

FROM  A  few  op  THEM. HoSPITAL  RePORT. VINDICATION    OF    SaME. 

—  Dr.  Smilie's  Address. — Congress  Report.  —  The  Casket  and 
Ribbon.  —  Award  of  the  French  Academy. — Extent  to  which 
Ether  is  used  at  the  Hospital. 

The  patience  of  the  public  has  been  long  since 
thoroughly  wearied  out  by  the  ether  controversy. 
More  than  two  dozen  pamphlets  have  appeared  on 
the  subject,  which,  collected  together  (as  they  have 
been  in  the  Boston  Library),  fill  three  respectably- 
sized  octavo  volumes.*     I  have  no  intention  to  renew 

*  The  following  is  a  list  of  these  pamphlets  in  the  order  of  publica- 
tion :  — 

1.  Insensibility  during  Surgical  Operations,  produced  by  Inhalation.  By 
H.  J.  Bigelow,  M.D.  Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal,  Nov.  18, 
1846. 

2.  The  Inhalation  of  an  Ethereal  Vapor  to  prevent  Sensibility  to  Pain 
during  Surgical  Operations.  By  J.  F.  Flagg,  M.D.  Boston  Medical  and 
Surgical  Journal,  Dec.  2,  1846. 

3.  Inhalation  of  Ethereal  Vapor  for  the  Prevention  of  Pain  in  Surgical 
Operations.  By  John  C.  Warren,  M.D.,  &c.  &c.  Boston  Medical  and  Sur- 
gical Journal,  Dec.  9,  1846. 

4.  Insensibility  during  Surgical  Operations,  produced  by  Inhalation.  By 
H.  J.  Bigelow,  M.D.  (in  reply  to  Dr.  J.  F.  Flagg).  Boston  Medical  and 
Surgical  Journal,  Dec.  9,  1846. 

5.  Inhalation  of  Ether.  By  J.  Mason  Warren,  M.D.  Boston  Medical 
and  Surgical  Journal,  March  24,  1847. 


216  ETHER   PAMPHLETS. 

this  controversy.      I  shall  merely  make  such  extracts 
from  five  of  these    pamphlets  as  I  think  appropri- 

6.  Circular,  by  W.  T.  G.  Morton,     pp.  88.     Boston,  March,  1847. 

7.  History  of  tlie  Discovery  of  the  Application  of  Nitrous  Oxide  Gas, 
Ether,  and  other  Vapors,  to  Surgical  Operations.  By  Horace  Wells,  pp. 
26.     Hartford,  March,  1847. 

8.  Some  Account  of  the  First  Use  of  Sulphuric  Ether  by  Inhalation  in 
Surgical  Practice.     By  George  Hayward,  M.D.    pp.  8.    Boston,  April,  1847. 

9.  Discovery  by  Charles  T.  Jackson,  M.D.  of  the  Applicability  of  Sul- 
phuric Ether  in  Surgical  Operations.  By  Martin  Gay,  M.D.  pp.  48.  Bos- 
ton, June,  1847. 

10.  A  Review  of  Dr.  M.  Gay's  Statement  of  Dr.  C.  T.  Jackson's  Claims 
to  the  Discovery,  &c.  &c.  By  J.  B.  S.  Jackson,  M.D.  Boston  .Medical 
and  Surgical  Journal,  June  30,  1847. 

11.  Some  Account  of  the  Letheon  ;  or.  Who  is  the  Discoverer?  By  Ed- 
ward Warren,    pp.  88.    Boston,  August,  1847. 

12.  Memoire  sur  la  Decouverte  du  Nouvel  Emploi  de  I'Ether  Sulfurique 
par  W.  T.  G.  Morton,  de  Boston,  Etats  Unis;  suivi  des  Pieces  Justificatives. 
pp.  60.     Paris,  1847. 

13.  Report  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Massachusetts  General 
Hospital,  presented  to  the  Corporation  at  their  Annual  Meeting,  Jan.  26, 
1848. 

14.  Account  of  a  New  Anajsthetic  Agent  as  a  Substitute  for  Sulphuric 
Ether  in  Surgery  and  Midwifery.  By  J.  Y.  Simpson,  M.D.,  F.  R.  S.  E.,  &c. 
pp.  24.     Reprinted,  New  York,  January,  1848. 

15.  Reprint  of  the  Report  of  the  Trustees  of  Massachusetts  General 
Hospital,  with  a  History  of  the  Ether  Discovery,  and  Dr.  Morton's  Memoir 
to  tiie  French  Academy.  Edited  by  R.  H.  Dana,  jun.  pp.  48.  Boston, 
March,  1848. 

16.  Rapport  des  Adniinistrateurs  de  I'Hopital  Ge'ne'ral  de  Massachusetts, 
.suivi  de  I'Histoire  de  la  Decouverte  de  I'Ether,  &c.  &c.  R.  H.  Dana,  jun., 
e'diteur.    pp.  144.     Cambridge,  1848. 

17.  A  Defence  of  Dr.  Cliarles  T.  Jackson's  Claims  to  the  Discover}'  of 
Etlierization  ;  containing  Testimony  disproving  the  Claims  set  up  in  Favor 
of  Mr.  W.  T.  G.  Morton  in  the  Report  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Massachusetts 
Hospital,  and  in  No.  201  of  Littell's  Living  Age.  By  Joseph  L.  and  Henry 
C.  Lord.     pp.  37.     Boston,  June,  1848. 

18.  The  Ether  Controversy  :  Vindication  of  the  Hospital  Report  of  1848. 
By  N.  I.  Bowditch.     pp.  32.     Boston,  July,  1848. 

19.  Reports  of  the  First  E.xhibition  of  the  Worcester  County  Mechanics' 
Association  at  Worcester,  September,  1848.     jip.  74. 


ETHER    DISCOVERY.  217 

ate  to  the  present  publication,  viz.  "  The  Hospital 
Report,"  and  its  "  Vindication  ;  "  "  Dr.  Smilie's  Ad- 
dress ;"  "  The  Congressional  Report;  "  and  an  article 
in  "  The  American  Journal  of  Dental  Surgery,"  since 
separately  printed  under  the  title  of  "•  The  Casket  arid 
the  Ribbon,"  which  is  the  latest  of  the  series,  and 
reviews  the  Congressional  Report  and  the  Minority 
Report,  presented  by  two  members  of  the  same  Com- 
mittee. 

20.  Ether  and  Chloroform ;  their  Discovery  and  Physiological  Effects, 
&c.     By  H.  J.  Bigelow,  M.D.    pp.  45.     Boston,  November,  1848. 

21.  Memorial  addressed  to  the  Trustees  of  the  Massachusetts  General 
Hospital,  in  Behalf  of  C.  T.  Jackson,  M.D.,  hy  his  Attorneys,  J.  L.  and  H. 
C.  Lord.    pp.  27.     Boston,  December,  1848. 

22.  Report  of  the  Select  Committee  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States, 
to  whom  was  referred  the  Memorial  of  William  T.  G.  Morton,  asking  Com- 
pensation from  Congress  for  the  Discovery  of  the  Pain-subduing  Property  of 
Sulphuric  Ether,     pp.  46.     Washington,  D.C.,  Feb.  23,  1849. 

23.  Minority  Report  of  the  same  Committee,  pp. 'JO.  Washington,  D.C., 
Feb.  28,  1849. 

24.  Rapport  du  Comitc  du  Senat  et  de  la  Chambre  des  Representants 
des  Etats  Unis  d'Amerique,  auquel  on  refe'ra  le  Me'moire  de  William  T.  G. 
Morton,  demandant  une  Compensation,  &c.  &c.  pp.  35.  Le  23  Fevrier, 
1849. 

25.  The  Casket  and  the  Ribbon ;  or,  the  Honors  of  Ether,  pp.  26.  Bal- 
timore, 1849. 

The  Volumes  of  tJie  Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal  from  August, 
1846,  to  August,  1849,  inclusive,  contain  communications  on  "  Letheon." 
To  these  I  add  — 

26.  An  Address  delivered  before  the  Castleton  Medical  College,  on  the 
History  of  the  Original  Application  of  Anjesthetic  Agents,  May  17,  1848. 
By  E.  R.  Smilie,  M.D. 

28 


218  HOSPITAL    REPORT. 


I.    THE   HOSPITAL  EEPORT  OF  JANUARY,  1848. 

This  Report  was  republished  in  Hays's  "  Medical 
Journal."  It  also  reappears  (in  connection  with  an 
article  of  R.  H.  Dana,  jun.)  in  Littell's  "  Living  Age." 
Dr.  Morton  caused  it  to  be  translated  into  French,  and 
laid  before  the  Academy  of  Sciences  at  Paris.  After 
stating  the  donations,  &c.,  which  had  been  made  to 
the  institution,  this  Report  proceeds  as  follows  :  — 

It  is  hoped,  that,  Avith  these  various  "means  and  appli- 
ances" at  command,  the  institution  has  hitherto  accom- 
pHshed,  and  will  ever  continue  to  accomplish,  the  designs  of 
its  founders  and  benefactors.  In  one  striking  instance  it 
certainly  has  not  been  found  wanting.  The  past  year  has 
tested  the  unspeakable  importance  of  the  recent  discovery 
of  the  properties  of  sulji/ncric  ether ;  no  less  than  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty-two  operations,  many  of  them  of  much 
severity,  having  been  already  performed  with  entire  success 
on  patients  who  had  been  rendered  insensible  through  its 
benign  influence.  By  overcoming  all  muscular  and  nervous 
resistance,  it  has  extended  the  domain  of  surgery  ;  making 
Operations  possible  which  could  not  have  been  performed, 
and  which  would  not  have  been  attempted,  without  its 
aid;  and,  by  the  removal  of  the  fear  of  pain,  it  has  greatly 
increased  the  actual  number  of  operations.  It  has  already 
become  an  established  remedy  throughout  all  the  chief 
cities  of  Europe,  and  its  benefits  have  reached  even  the 
distant  natives  of  Singapore  and  of  Canton. 


HOSriTAL    REPORT.  219 

With  just  pride,  tlierefore,  the  Trustees  would  now 
record  the  fact,  tliat  witlihi  the  walls  of  this  building  were 
witnessed  tlie  first  painless  capital  operations  that  were 
ever  performed.  The  world  at  large,  indeed,  is  in  no  small 
degree  indebted  to  the  Medical  and  Surgical  Officers  of  this 
institution.  But  for  their  immediate  appreciation  of  the 
importance  of  this  discovery,  and  their  considerate,  but,  at 
the  same  time,  zealous  and  prompt  co-operation  with  Dr. 
Morton,  in  availing  themselves  of  its  use,  its  application 
might  have  been  restricted  to  the  comparatively  unimpor- 
tant operations  of  the  dentist.  Who  can  say  what  might 
have  been  the  result,  had  his  overtures  been  received  with 
excessive  caution?  An  answer  may  perhaps  be  found  in 
the  fact,  that  it  is  only  within  a  few  weeks,  '^f  at  all,  that 
the  use  of  sulphuric  ether  has  been  introduced  into  our 
sister  institution  in  Pennsylvania.  This  appears  by  "  the 
Annual  Report  on  Surgery,  read  before  the  College  of  Phy- 
sicians, Nov.  2,  1847,  by  Isaac  Parish,  M.  D.,"  where  it  is 
said  :  '^^  A.t  the  Pennsyhania  Hospital  in  this  citi/,  it  has  not 
been  tried  (it  all;  being  considered  by  the  judicious  surgeons 
of  that  institution  as  a  remedy  of  doubtful  safety,  or,  at  least, 
as  not  sufficiently  established  to  warrant  them  in  its  employ- 
ment." And  yet,  in  the  same  report,  we  find  the  following 
sentence  :  "  But,  when  we  extend  our  vision  to  foreign  coun- 
tries, and  call  to  mind  that  during  the  past  nine  months  it 
has  been  adopted  in  most  of  the  large  hospitals  of  Great 
Britain,  in  the  vast  hospitals  of  Paris,  and  for  the  last  six 
months  in  the  numerous  institutions  of  like  character  in 
Germany,  including  the  immense  hospitals  at  Vienna  and 
Berlin,  we  can  form  some  idea  of  the  extent  to  which  it  has 
been  carried,  and  of  the  firm  hold  which  this  great  American 
discovery  has  taken  of  the  mind  of  the  scientific  world." 

The    first    operators  who    applied    it  were  Drs.    John  C. 


220  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

Warren  and  George  Hay  ward,  Surgeons  of  this  Hospital. 
The  enthusiasm  of  one  of  their  colleagues,  who  had  been 
especially  earnest  in  urging  the  performance  of  these  opera- 
tions, led  him  to  become  the  first  champion  of  ether  in  this 
country,  by  a  publication  of  much  merit,  and  also  to  trans- 
mit the  earliest  account  of  the  discovery  to  England,  where 
it  was  at  once  hailed  with  rapturous  exultation.  And  an- 
other, a  favorite  alike  of  Science  and  the  Muses,  has  thus 
vividly  described  its  beneficent  effects :  "  The  knife  is 
searching  for  disease,  —  the  pulleys  are  dragging  back 
dislocated  limbs,  —  nature  herself  is  working  out  the  pri- 
mal curse,  which  doomed  the  tenderest  of  her  creatures  to 
the  sharpest  of  her  trials  ;  but  the  fierce  extremity  of  suf- 
fering has  been  steeped  in  the  waters  of  forgetfulness,  and 
the  deepest  furrow  in  the  knotted  brow  of  agony  has  been 
smoothed  for  ever."  Even  the  grave  and  dispassionate  Dr. 
Warren  himself  (in  a  yet  unpublished  work,  which  he  kindly 
communicated  to  the  Committee,  and  which  embodies  the 
matured  results  of  his  own  experience  upon  this  subject) 
indulges  in  equally  graphic  language  :  "  Who  could  have 
imaofined,  that  drawino-  the  knife  over  the  delicate  skin  of 
the  ftice  might  produce  a  sensation  of  unmixed  delight !  — 
that  the  turnino;  and  twistin"'  of  instruments  in  the  most 
sensitive  bladder  might  be  accompanied  by  a  beautiful 
dream  !  " 

Professor  Simpson,  of  Edinburgh,  has  discovered  that  a 
new  agent  (chloroform)  possesses  the  same  powers  as  sul- 
phuric ether,  and,  as  lie  thinks,  many  and  great  advantages 
over  it.  The  universal  law  of  intellect  is  progress.  But, 
though  others  may  erect  the  superstructure,  the  corner-stone 
of  the  building  will  preserve  an  imperishable  record  of  its 
founder.  The  name  of  Fulton  will  never  be  forgotten. 
Yet  how    vast   is   the  difference    between    the    first    humble 


HOSPITAL    RErORT.  221 

steamboat  that  slowly  toiled  up  the  Hudson,  and  those 
majestic  structures  which  now  defy  the  storms  of  the  At- 
lantic ! 

As  philanthropists,  we  may  well  rejoice  that  we  have  had 
any  agency,  however  slight,  in  conferring  on  poor,  suffering 
humanity,  so  precious  a  gift.  Unrestrained  and  free  as 
God's  own  sunshine,  it  has  gone  forth  to  cheer  and  gladden 
the  earth.  It  will  awaken  the  gratitude  of  the  present  and 
of  all  cominiT  o-enei'ations.  The  student  who,  from  distant 
lands  or  in  distant  ages,  may  visit  this  spot,  will  view  it 
with  increased  interest,  as  he  remembers  that  here  was  first 
demonstrated  one  of  the  most  glorious  truths  of  science. 

Pursuant  to  an  informal  suggestion  of  the  Board,  who 
regard  this  discovery  as  the  most  important  event  which 
has  occurred  in  the  history  of  this  institution,  the  Com- 
mittee proceed  to  make  a  more  extended  investigation, 
in  respect  to  its  origin,  than  would  otherwise  have  been 
thought  necessary. 

A  recent  publication  by  Dr.  George  Hayward,  entitled 
"  Some  Account  of  the  First  Use  of  Sulphuric  Ether  by 
Inhalation  in  Surgical  Practice,"  gives  a  clear  and  simple 
history  of  this  discovery,  and  of  all  its  attending  circum- 
stances, as  connected  with  the  Hospital.  It  is  interesting  to 
trace  the  earlier  successive  steps  by  which  the  grand  result 
was  at  last  obtained.  These  are,  to  a  considerable  extent, 
recapitulated  in  the  British  and  Foreign  Review  of  April 
last.  It  is  tliere  stated,  that,  as  early  as  1779,  "  we  find 
many  experiments  on  men  and  animals  on  the  inspiration 
of  different  kinds  of  airs."  —  "Dr.  Beddoes,  in  his  work  on 
Factitious  Airs,  published  at  Bristol  in  1795-G,"  "gives 
several  communications  from  Dr.  Pearson  on  the  inlialation 
of  ether,"  also  "  a  letter  from  one  of  Dr.  Thornton's  patients, 
in  which   the  patient  himself  gives  an  account  of  the  inha- 


222  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

lation  of  ether,  by  Dr.  Thornton's  advice,  and  Its  effects  in  a 
case  of  pectoral  catarrh.  He  says,  'It  gave  almost  imme- 
diate relief  both  to  the  oppression  and  pain  in  the  chest. 
On  a  second  trial,  he  says  he  inhaled  two  tea-spoonfuls  of 
ether,  which,  he  adds,  '  gave  immediate  relief  as  before,  and 
I  very  soon  after  fell  asleep,  and  had  a  good  night's  rest.'"  — 
"Another  curious  case  is  given  by  Dr.  Thornton,  in  which 
inhalation  was  prescribed  for  the  relief  of  a  very  'painfal 
inflanwiatory  afection  of  the  mdmnia,  and  with  very  ben- 
eficial effect."  The  Reviewer  says,  "  At  this  time  and 
sul)sequently.  Dr.  Thornton  was  in  the  common  habit  of 
administering  the  vapor  of  etlier  to  his  patients."  —  "In  all 
these  trials,  no  one  had  distinctly  in  view  the  removal  or 
abolition  of  pain,  tliough  this  was  attained,  indirectly,  in 
Dr.  Thornton's  case.  But  Sir  Hiniiphrey  Davy,  who  it  is 
well  known  first  began  his  chemical  career  by  assisting  Dr. 
Beddoes,"  "  seems  not  only  to  have  contemplated  such  a 
result  by  means  of  medicamentous  inhalation,  but  to  have 
actually  put  it  to  the  test  of  experiment  on  himself.  Tiie 
medium  of  his  experiment,  however,  was  not  ether,  but  the 
nitrous  oxide.  Sir  Humphrey  tells  us,  tliat  on  two  occa- 
sions the  inhalation  of  the  nitrous  oxide  removed  headache. 
He  also  tried  its  effect  in  removing  intense  ^physical  pain, 
while  he  was  cutting  a  wisdom-tooth."  —  "He  says:  '^  As 
ii'drous  oxide,  in  its  extensive  operation,  appears  capable  of 
destroijijif/  physical  pain,  it  may  probably  be  used  with  ad- 
vantage during  surgical  operations  in  -which  no  great  effusion 
of  blood  takes  place.'  "  —  "  In  the  article  "  Ether,'  in  the 
Diet,  des  Sc.  Med.,  vol.  xiii.,  published  in  1815,  we  find 
the  author,  Nysten,  speaking  of  the  inhalation  of  ether  as 
familiarly  known,  and  as  employed  for  the  relief  of  some 
pulmonary  diseases,  and  also  for  mitigating  the  pain  of 
colic.'"     To    an   eminent  medical  friend  the  Committee  are 


HOSPITAL    REPORT.  223 

indebted  for  the  fact,  tliat  in  Pereira's  Materia  Medica, 
published  in  London  in  1839,  it  is  expressly  stated  that 
"  the  vapor  of  ether _  is  inhaled  in  spasmodic  asthma, 
chronic  catarrh,  and  dyspnoea,  hooping-cough,  and  to  relieve 
the  effects  catised  hy  the  accidental  inhalation  of  cldorine 
gas."  Dr.  Charles  T.  «Tackson,  of  this  city  (as  we  learn 
from  a  pamphlet  published  in  1847,  under  his  own  sanction 
and  authority,  entitled,  "Discovery  by  Charles  T.  Jackson, 
M.  D.,  of  the  Applicability  of  Sulphuric  Ether  in  Surgical 
Operations;  by  Martin  Gay,  M.D."),  has  distinctly  ad- 
mitted that  he  "  was  early  impressed  with  the  remarks  of 
Davy  *  concerning  the  remedial  agency  of  gaseous  matters."  f 
As  a  learned  chemist,  he  was  also  doubtless  familiar  with  the 
publication  last  referred  to.  Accordingly,  two  or  three  years 
after  its  appearance,  or  in  the  winter  of  1841-2,  "  he  inhaled 
sulphuric  ether,  to  obtain  relief  from  the  very  unpleasant  sen- 
sations caused  by  an  accidental  inhalation  of  chlorine  gas."  In 
other  words,  having  accidentally  inhaled  chlorine  gas,  he  re- 
sorted to  the  prescribed  remedy.  "  He  at  first  breathed  the 
ether  without  producing  unconsciousness,  but  derived  from  it 
some  relief.  Afterwards,  still  suffering  from  the  chlorine, 
he  continued  the  experiment  to  such  an  extent  as  to  produce 
complete  general  insensibility."  Subsequently,  under  pre- 
cisely the  same  circumstances,  he  also  prescribed  it  to  one  of 
his  students.  He  had,  as  he  states,  on  one  previous  occasion, 
also  about  A.D.  1841,  inhaled  it  with  safety  to  the  extent  of 
producing  "a  peculiar  sleep  or  unconsciousness." — "J3efore 
his  observations,  a  state  of  complete  insensihilitij  from  this 


*  Dr.  Jackson,  in  a  letter  published  Avith  Dr.  Gay's  pamphlet,  saj's  : 
"  My  interest  in  the  respiration  of  gases  was  first  excited  by  Sir  H.  Davy's 
experiments ;  and,  since  I  became  accxuainted  with  them,  tlie  subject  has 
always  seemed  to  me  to  deserve  further  investigation." 

t  Daily  Advertiser  of  March  1,  1847. 


224  ETHER    DISCOYERY. 

cause  loas  considered  by  the  best  autJiorities  as  one  of 
greater  or  less  danger;  and  it  had  been  known  to  jjivduce 
fatal  7'esults.  Young  persons  had  breathed  this  vapor  to 
the  extent  of  producing  unconsciousness ,  and  in  some  cases 
without  injury.'' 

Dr.  Jackson,  then,  had  not  discovered  any  new  power  or 
property  of  ether.  It  ivas  Jcnoivn  that  it  could  produce 
insensibility ;  and  that  that  insensibility ,  though  sometimes 
fatal,  was  sometimes  tmattended  with  injury.  It  was  also 
known  as  a  specific  against  the  noxious  effects  of  chlorine 
gas.  lie  had  merely  tested  these  known  propositions,  and 
found  them  true  in  his  own  person.  By  so  doing  he  had 
formed,  as  he  states,  a  strong  opinion,  that  pure,  rectified, 
sulphuric  ether  could  be  inhaled  with  safety.  But  its  efficacy 
for  the  prevention  of  pain  he  had,  thus  far,  only  verified  by 
actual  experiment  in  the  case  specified,  in  the  text-books,  viz. 
where  chlorine  gas  had  been  jDreviously  inhaled.  This  ex- 
periment is  stated  in  Dr.  Gay's  pamphlet  with  great  particu- 
larity, as  if  it  had  been  one  before  unhnown.  The  motives 
which  led  to  it,  and  the  philosophical  inferences  deduced  by 
Dr.  Jackson,  are  set  forth  with  much  minuteness.  It  seems, 
indeed,  to  be  relied  on  as  the  very  foundation  of  Dr.  Jack- 
son's claim,  as  the  discoverer  of  the  safety  and  efficacy  of 
sulphuric  ether.  It  still  obviously  remained  to  be  proved, 
that  it  could  be  safely  and  effectually  inhaled  for  the  preven- 
tion of  pain  under  other  circumstances.*  To  establish  this 
point.  Dr.  Jackson  never  attempted  an  experiment  on  man  or 
animal.  It  is  true  that  "  he  communicated  to  several  per- 
sons (and,  among  others,  to  Mr.  Bemis,  an  eminent  dentist, 
in  1842)  his  observations  and  conclusions  respecting  the  pre- 

*  Y>T.  Gay  says  himself,  "  It  still  remained  to  be  ascertained  whether  this 
\inconsciousness  was  so  perfect,  tliat,  durinj^  its  continuance,  no  pain  would 
be  produced  by  wounding  instruments."  —  Pamphlet,  p.  10. 


HOSPITAL    REPORT.  225 

vention  of  pain  in  surgical  operations  ;  "  and,  in  February, 
1846,  he  informed  a  student  in  his  laboratory  (Mr.  Joseph 
Peabody),  who  wished  to  have  two  teeth  extracted,  "that 
insensibility  would  be  produced  by  the  inhalation  of  sulphuric 
ether-vapor.  He  advised  him  to  breathe  it,  and  to  submit 
to  the  operation  while  in  the  sleep  induced  thereby."  But 
what  effect  did  his  advice  have  on  Mr.  Peabody  ?  "  He  at 
last  gave  up  the  experiment,  because  his  father,  a  scientific 
man,  feared  irritation  of  the  lungs  might  ensue, — be- 
cause the  best  authorities  on  the  subject  were  arrayed 
against  the  opiriion  of  Dr.  Jackson,  —  and  because  he  was 
unwilling  to  incur  any  risk  for  so  slight  an  operation."  And 
such  was  really  the  general  state  of  public  opinion  among 
men  of  science  down  to  that  time.*  The  discovery  loas  yet 
to  be  made  by  one  who  was  willing  to  try  the  experiment, 
notwithstanding  the  best  authorities  on  the  subject  were 
against  it. 

Further,  it  does  not  appear,  that,  from  1841-2  to  1846, 
Dr.  Jackson  suggested  its  use,  except  for  the  slighter  and 
instantaneous  operations  of  the  dentist.  Familiar,  as  he  con- 
fesses himself  to  have  been,  with  the  views  of  Sir  H.  Davy, 
who  had  so  lonsf  before  sug^ojested  the  use  of  the  nitrous 
oxide  in  operations  attended  loith  little  effusion  of  blood,  it 
was  very  natural  that  Dr.  Jackson's  thoughts  should  have 
been  exclusively  turned  to  the  use  of  sulphuric  ether  in  the 
class  of  minor  operations  which  had  been  thus  specified  by  so 
distinguished  a  philosopher.  It  would  seem,  indeed,  clear 
that  he  had  not  the  remotest  conception  of  its  universal 
applicability  and  importance.  Such,  indeed,  is  the  only 
satisfactory  explanation  of  the  fact,  that,  during  an  interval 
of  nearly  five  years,  he  never   once  tested  his  discovery,  or 


*  See  Mr.  Metcalf  's  letter  to  the  Committee,  p.  228. 
29 


226  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

caused  it  to  be  tested,  by  a  single  experiment.  Upon  this 
point,  indeed,  the  advocate  of  Dr.  Jackson  says  :  "  It  was 
more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  after  Jenner  first  heard  the 
milkmaid  express  her  belief  in  the  protective  influence  of 
cow-pox,  that  he  vaccinated  his  first  patient ;  "  but,  he  adds, 
"  during  which  period  he  was  much  engaged  in  the  investiga- 
tion of  the  subject.''^  But  ether  seems  to  have  received  only  a 
casual  and  incidental  attention  from  Dr.  Jackson.  To  make 
the  cases  at  all  parallel,  it  must  be  shown,  that  Jenner,  after 
vaccinating  his  first  patient,  waited  five  years  before  vacci- 
nating another,  with  a  like  apparent  unconsciousness  of  the 
importance  of  his  discovery.  Indeed,  these  two  discoveries 
are  of  so  totally  opposite  a  character,  that  they  suggest  a 
striking  contrast,  instead  of  a  parallel.  In  the  one  case,  the 
truth  could  be  ascertained  only  by  repeated  experiments  and 
patient  investigation.  It  had  to  fight  its  way  against  the 
inveterate  prejudices  of  the  world.  In  the  other  case,  it  is 
fully  and  for  ever  demonstrated  by  the  first  successful  capital 
operation  ;  and  it  is  at  once  hailed,  as  it  were,  with  delight 
by  all  mankind. 

Within  this  period.  Dr.  Horace  Wells,  of  Hartford,  used 
the  nitrous  oxide  while  engaged  in  extracting:  teeth.  His 
claim,  as  a  discoverer  in  this  matter,  must  yield  entirely  to 
that  of  Sir  H.  Davy,  who,  after  actual  experiments,  had,  as 
it  were,  distinctly  suggested  the  use  of  this  very  agent  for 
this  object  so  many  years  before.  There  are,  doubtless, 
reasons  founded  in  the  nature  of  this  agent,  which  have  pre- 
vented these  suggestions  of  Davy,  in  regard  to  it,  from  hav- 
ing been  long  since  realized.  And,  whatever  may  have  been 
the  result  of  Dr.  Wells's  experiments  elsewhere,  it  is  certain 
that  his  public  performance  of  them  in  Boston  in  1844  was 
an  entire  failure.  It  is  also  stated  by  Dr.  Wells,  that,  as 
early   as  November,   1844,  "a  surgical  operation  was   per- 


HOSPITAL    REPORT.  227 

formed  at  Dr.  Marcy's  office  under  the  influence  of  sulphuric 
ether ;  "  and  he  adds,  "  The  doctor  then  advised  me  by  all 
means  to  continue  the  use  of  the  nitrous  oxide."  And  it 
seems  that  the  result  of  this  one  experiment  was  such,  that, 
pursuant  to  this  advice,  he  abandoned  the  idea  of  the  further 
use  of  ether.  His  claim,  therefore,  to  the  discovery  in  ques- 
tion appears  in  this  view  also  to  be  equally  unfounded.  We 
cannot  but  believe,  that  it  has  been  without  due  consideration 
that  his  claim  has  received  the  official  sanction  of  his  native 
State  of  Connecticut.  Indeed,  a  published  letter  from  Dr. 
Wells  to  Dr.  Morton  seems  necessarily  to  exclude  the  idea, 
that  he  himself  claimed  to  have  made  any  such  prior  dis- 
covery.* All  must,  however,  accord  to  him  the  honor  of 
having  been  an  earnest  and  persevering  seeker  after  truth  in 
this  very  path  of  inquiry ;  and  his  labors  and  experiments 
may,  we  think,  fairly  be  considered  as  having  had  some  in- 
direct influence,  though  not  themselves  attended  with  direct 
success. 

Dr.  William  T.  G.  Morton,  of  this  city,  must  now  be 
mentioned.  He  had  been  a  student  of  Dr.  Jackson's,  and 
formerly  a  partner  of  Dr.  Wells.  He,  therefore,  occasion- 
ally availed  himself  of  the  advice  of  the  former  ;  and  he  was 
aware  of,  and  (upon  the  public  occasion  in  Boston  before 
referred  to)  had  taken  part  in,  the  experiments  of  the  latter 


*  The  letter  referred  to  is  as  follows  :  — 

"  Hartford,  Conn.,  Oct.  20,  1846. 

"  Dr.  Morton,  —  Dear  Sir,  Your  letter,  dated  yesterday,  is  just  received  ; 
and  I  hasten  to  answer  it,  for  fear  you  will  adopt  a  method  in  disposing  of 
your  rights  which  will  defeat  your  object.  Before  you  make  any  arrange- 
ments whatever,  I  wish  to  see  you.  I  think  I  will  be  in  Boston  the  first  of 
next  week,  probably  Monday  night.  If  the  operation  of  administering  the  gas 
is  not  attended  with  too  much  trouble,  and  will  produce  the  effect  you  state,  it 
will  undoubtedly  be  a  fortune  to  you,  provided  it  is  rightly  managed, 

"  Yours  in  haste,  H.  Wells." 


228  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

in  the  use  of  nitrous  oxide.  It  does  not  appear  that  Dr. 
Wells  had  ever  mentioned  in  Boston  his  one  experiment 
with  sulphuric  ether.  There  is  evidence,  entirely  satisfactory, 
that  Dr.  Morton's  attention  had  been  for  some  time  engaged 
upon  the  subject ;  that  he  had  purchased  and  experimented 
upon  sulphuric  ether ;  that,  as  early  as  July,  1846,  a  highly 
intelligent  chemist  of  this  city  had  a  conversation  with  him 
upon  its  medicinal  qualities ;  *  and  that,  at  this  very  time,  he 

*  Mr.  Theodore  Metcalf,  in  a  note  to  Dr.  Morton,  dated  Dec.  20,  1847, 
says  :  "  I  can  only  state  that  I  remember  to  have  met  you  at  Mr.  Bur- 
nett's store  early  in  the  summer  of  1846,  and  to  have  had  a  conversation 
witli  you  in  regard  to  the  medicinal  qualities  of  sulphuric  ether,  a  quantity  of 
wliich  you  were  then  purchasing.  I  cannot,  as  you  desire,  give  the  precise 
date,  but  know  it  to  have  been  previous  to  July  6,  as  I  left  Boston  on  that 
day  for  a  tour,  from  which  I  have  but  a  few  weeks  returned."  Mr.  Metcalf 
also,  subsequently,  sent  the  following  letter,  before  referred  to  in  p.  225  :  — 

"  Boston,  Jan.  26,  1848. 

"  Sir,  —  In  answer  to  your  inquiry  respecting  the  nature  of  my  interview 
with  Mr.  Morton,  I  can  only  add  to  my  note  of  Dec.  20,  that  the  conversa- 
tion was  commenced  by  some  inquiry  on  his  part,  concerning  the  nature  and 
effects  of  sulphuric  ether,  a  vial  of  which  he  then  held  in  his  hand. 

"  In  answer  to  his  several  questions,  I  gave  him  such  information  as  he 
could  have  obtained  from  any  intelligent  apothecary  at  that  time,  and  also 
related  to  him  some  personal  experience  as  to  its  use  as  a  substitute  for  the 
nitrous  oxide  ;  adding  the  then  generally  received  opinion,  that  its  excessive 
inhalation  would  produce  dangerous,  if  not  fatal  consequences.  Some  refer- 
ence was  made  —  but  whether  by  Mr.  Morton  or  myself,  I  cannot  remember 
—  to  the  unsuccessful  experiments  of  his  former  partner,  Mr.  Wells,  with 
the  nitrous  oxide.  It  was  one  of  those  casual  conversations  which  quickly 
pass  from  the  mind  ;  and  it  was  for  the  first  time  recalled  to  my  memory, 
upon  seeing,  months  after,  in  a  French  journal,  an  account  of  the  anses- 
thetic  effects  of  etiier,  the  discovery  of  which  was  ascribed  by  the  writer  to 
a  Boston  dentist. 

"  I  am,  sir,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 
"  N.  I.  Bowditch,  Esq."  "  Theodore  Metcalf. 

Mr.  Metcalf  is  the  well-knoAvn  predecessor  of  Mr.  Burnett,  and,  as  an 
apothecary,  has  long  possessed,  in  the  highest  degree,  the  confidence  and 
respect  of  the  medical  profession ;  and  there  is  no  one  in  the  community 


HOSPITAL    REPORT.  229 

made  an  arrangement  in  business,  the  express  object  of  which 
was  to  relieve  himself  from  the  immediate  duties  of  his  pro- 
fession, in  order  to  devote  himself  to  soinething  which  would 
make  an  entire  revolution  in  dentistry.  But  we  do  not  think 
it  at  all  material  to  go  into  the  minute  details  of  this  evi- 
dence. Skilful  in  his  particular  department,  he  makes  no 
pretensions  to  general  science.  Seeking  for  this  discovery, 
—  accquainted  with   this  very  agent,  —  he   calls  upon  Dr. 


whose  personal  character  would  give  higher  authority  to  any  statement  of 
facts  distinctly  and  positively  made.  It  is  therefore  certain,  that  Dr.  Morton, 
months  before  his  interview  with  Dr.  Jackson,  purchased  sulphuric  ether  at  the 
very  shop  where  Dr.  Jackson  at  last  advised  him  to  buy  some  more  (pure 
and  rectified),  with  wliich  the  successful  experiment  was  made.  And  it 
may  be  remai-ked,  tiiat  the  details  of  the  conversation,  given  by  Mr.  Met- 
calf,  seem  conclusively  to  show  witli  what  intent  Dr.  Morton  was  then 
making  his  purchase. 

The  Committee  may  claim  the  entire  credit  of  obtaining  this  most  impor- 
tant testimony.  Mr.  Metcalf,  having  been  absent  in  Eui'ope,  had  never 
been  applied  to  by  Dr.  Morton,  who  called  upon  him  only  at  the  express 
suggestion  of  the  Committee.  Besides  its  direct  bearing  in  the  case,  it 
confirms  the  statement  of  Dr.  Hayden,  who  had  previously  testified  to  the 
purchase  of  a  small  quantity  of  sulphuric  ether  at  Mr.  Burnett's  ;  and  not 
only  so,  but  it  seems  to  prove  that  Dr.  Hayden  could  not  have  any  motive 
for  misrepresenting  the  contents  of  the  demijohn,  since  the  point  at  issue 
was  Dr.  Morton's  entire  ignorance  of  sulphuric  etlier,  not  his  greater  or  less 
knowledge  of  that  agent.  Dr.  Gay,  from  the  omission  in  the  published  affi- 
davits of  Dr.  Morton  to  state  the  kind  of  ether  used  in  his  experiments, 
infers  his  total  ignorance  of  sulphuric  ether,  down  to  Sept.  30,  1846.  In- 
deed, Dr.  Jackson  stated  to  one  of  the  Committee,  that,  when  Dr.  Mor- 
ton had  his  interview  with  him  on  Sept.  30,  1846,  he  (Dr.  Morton)  had 
never  seen  sulphuric  ether  —  did  not  even  know  it  by  sight  —  was  wholly 
ignorant  about  its  nature  and  qualities  —  and  got  from  him,  for  the  first  time, 
the  idea  of  using  it.  To  the  suggestion  that  this  ignorance  was  feigned,  he 
replied  that  he  knew  it  to  be  real ;  and  remarked,  "  The  Committee  may 
consider  it  as  a  certain  fact  in  the  case.  It  can  be  proved  beyond  all  reason- 
able doubt  whatever."  The  Committee,  being  aware  of  Mr.  Metcalf 's 
statement,  suggested  that  an  unimpeachable  witness  had  stated,  tliat,  three 
montlis  before  that  interview,  Dr.  Morton  had  bought  sulphuric  ether,  and 
conversed  with  him  respecting  its  medicinal  qualities.     Dr.  Jackson  replied 


230  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

Jackson  ;  wishing,  without  betraying  his  own  motives  and 
objects,  to  obtain  all  the  information  which  Dr.  Jackson's 
extensive  researches  and  experience  might  enable  him  to  fur- 
nish. Dr.  Jackson,  at  this  interview,  voluntarily  gives  him 
the  strongest  assurances  of  the  expediency  and  safety  of 
using  pure  rectified  sulphuric  ether ;  informs  him  where  he 
can  get  some  of  a  good  quality  ;  *  and  advises  him,  as  he 
had  more  than  once  advised  others,  to  try  the  experiment.! 
Unlike  others.  Dr.  Morton  determines  to   do  so.     He  does 

that  it  could  not  be,  —  that  it  must  be  an  entire  mistake,  &c.  The  Com- 
mittee learned,  two  days  afterwards,  from  Mr.  Metcalf,  that  he  had  himself 
previously  informed  Dr.  Jackson  of  the  fact,  that,  before  he  went  to  Europe, 
he  had  seen  Dr.  Morton  buying  sulphuric  ether,  and  conversed  with  him 
about  its  qualities.  He  had  not,  indeed,  stated  to  Dr.  Jackson  the  precise 
time  when  this  interview  took  place  ;  but  the  Committee  think  that  this 
circumstance  affords  evidence  that  Dr.  Jackson's  conclusions  in  this  case 
have  been  formed  without  a  careful  and  deliberate  consideration  of  the  facts, 
even  when  brought  directly  ivithin  his  notice. 

*  Viz.  at  Mr.  Burnett's  shop,  where  Dr.  Morton  had  himself  purchased 
sulphuric  ether  three  months  before. 

t  In  a  memorial  dated  July  31,  18i7,  transmitted  by  Dr.  Morton  to  the 
French  Academy,  and,  as  he  informs  the  Committee,  subsequently  pre- 
sented by  Arago  to  that  body,  we  find,  accordingly,  the  following  paragraph  : 
"  I  am  ready  to  acknowledge  my  indebtedness  to  men  and  to  books  for  all 
my  information  upon  this  subject.  I  have  got  here  a  little,  and  there  a  little. 
I  learned  from  Dr.  Jackson,  in  18i4,  the  effect  of  ether  directly  applied  to  a 
sensitive  tooth,  and  proved  by  experiment  that  it  would  gradually  render 
the  nerve  insensible.  I  learned  from  Dr.  Jackson,  also  in  1844,  the  effect  of 
etlier  when  inhaled  by  students  at  college,  which  was  corroborated  by 
Spear's  account,  and  by  what  I  read.  I  knew  of  Dr.  Wells's  attempt  to 
apply  nitrous  oxide  gas  for  destroying  pain  under  surgical  operations.  I 
had  great  motive  to  destroy  or  alleviate  pain  under  my  operations,  and 
endeavored  to  produce  such  a  result  by  means  of  inhaling  ether ;  inferring 
that,  if  it  would  render  a  nerve  insensible  when  directly  applied,  it  miglit, 
when  inhaled,  destroy  or  greatly  alleviate  sensibility  to  pain  generally. 
Had  the  ether  that  I  tried  on  the  5th  of  August  been  pure,  I  should  have 
made  the  demonstration  then.  I  further  acknowledge,  that  I  was  subse- 
quently indebted  to  Dr.  Jackson  for  valuable  information  as  to  the  kinds 
and  preparations  of  etlier,  and  for  the  recommendation  of  the  highly  rectified, 


HOSPITAL    REPORT.  231 

not  yield  to  any  doubt,  from  the  opposite  array  of  au- 
thorities. He  is  willing  to  take  the  risk.  Accordingly,  on 
Sept.  30,  1846,  —  after  having,  as  he  states,  first  inhaled  it 
himself,  —  he  finds  a  patient  who  consents  to  permit  him  to 
use  it,  and  extracts  a  tooth  without  pain.  It  was,  of  course, 
at  first  still  uncertain  whether  the  insensibility  so  satisfac- 
torily obtained  during  this  brief  operation  would  continue 
through  a  more  prolonged  one.  Dr.  Morton,  on  the  next 
day,  calls  on  Dr.  Jackson,  and  informs  him  of  his  success  ; 
and  the  latter  states  that  he  advised  Dr.  Morton  to  oret  the 
surgeons  of  the  Hospital  to  permit  its  use.*  He  does  not 
himself,  however,  see  any  of  these  officers.     He  is  not  him- 

from  Burnett's,  as  the  most  safe  and  efficient.  But  my  obligation  to  him 
hath  this  extent,  no  furtlier." 

In  this  memorial,  we  find  also  the  following  paragraph  :  "  I  went  to  Dr. 
Jackson,  therefore,  to  procure  a  gas  bag,  also  with  the  intention  of  ascertain- 
ing something  more  accurately  as  to  the  diflerent  preparations  of  ether,  if  I 
should  find  I  could  do  so  without  setting  him  upon  the  same  track  of  exper- 
iment with  myself.  I  am  aware,  that  by  this  admission  1  may  show  myself 
not  to  have  been  possessed  by  the  most  disinterested  spirit  of  philosophic 
enthusiasm,  clear  of  all  regard  for  personal  rights  or  benefits ;  but  it  is 
enough  for  me  to  say,  that  I  felt  I  had  made  sacrifices  and  run  risks  for  this 
object ;  that  I  believed  myself  to  be  close  upon  it,  yet  where  another,  with 
better  opportunities  for  experimenting,  availing  himself  of  my  hints  and 
labors,  might  take  the  prize  from  my  grasp." 

The  Committee  deem  it  a  very  important  consideration,  in  respect  to  this 
interview,  that  the  information  in  question  was  elicited  by  the  visit  of  Dr. 
Morton  to  Dr.  Jackson  for  a  specific  purpose,  viz.  to  obtain  the  means  of 
persuading  a  patient  to  submit  to  an  operation,  under  the  idea  that  it  would 
be  unattended  with  pain ;  and  that  it  was  not  disclosed  in  an  interview 
sought  by  Dr.  Jackson  to  make  trial  of  it  for  his  satisfaction,  or  to  accom- 
plish his  purposes. 

*  Dr.  G.  G.  Hayden,  however,  in  his  affidavit,  states  that,  "on  the 
evening  of  the  30th  of  September,  after  the  first  experiment  had  been  made 
with  success.  Dr.  Morton  spoke  about  going  to  the  Hospital,  and  using  the 
ether  there,  and  thus  bringing  out  the  new  discovery  ;  "  while  a  witness  of 
Dr.  Jackson's  testifies,  tliat  "  Dr.  Morton  strongly  objected  at  first  to  going 
to  the  Hospital."     He  certainly  showed  no  such  reluctance  at  last. 


232  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

self  present  at  any  of  the  early  operations.*  He  fears  that 
Dr.  Morton  may  recklessly  do  some  great  mischief.  He 
refuses  to  give  him  a  written  certificate  of  the  safety  of  the 
application  of  ether.  He  openly  and  strongly  expresses  his 
regret  that  he  had  ever  communicated  to  Dr.  Morton  any 
information  upon  the  subject. f  Certainly,  then,  with  respect 
to  all  these  subsequent  experiments,  Dr.  Jackson  is  free  from 
the  least  responsibility  ;  and  this  alike,  whether  he  doubted 
the  safety  of  the  application  of  ether,  or  only,  as  it  would 
seem,  the  competency  of  Dr.  Morton  to  administer  it  safely. 
In  either  case,  the  risk  was  wholly  confined  to  Dr.  Morton 
and  the  surgeons  of  this  Hospital.^  Dr.  Morton  thus  follows 
up  his  first  success ;  and  the  great  truth  is  at  last  made 
manifest,  for  which  so  many  a  prayer  had  been  breathed  in 
vain  ever  since  man  had  lived  and  suffered.  Il  is  demon- 
strated that  ether  may  he  applied  with  safety,  so  as  to  'pro- 
duce insensibility  during  all  surgical  ajjerations. 

*  Dr.  Jackson  was  absent  from  the  city  when  the  third  operation  was  per- 
formed at  the  Hospital,  and  remained  absent  twelve  days  ;  but,  besides  this 
expected  absence,  lie  iiad  assigned  another  reason  for  declining  to  assist  at 
that  operation. 

t  More  than  one  witness  distinctly  remembers,  that  the  expression,  "  I 
don't  care  what  he  does  with  it,  if  he  does  not  drag  my  name  in  with  it," 
and  others  of  similar  import,  were  used  by  Dr.  Jackson  in  relation  to  Dr. 
ISIorton's  early  experiments  in  confirmation  and  establisinnent  of  this  dis- 
covery. And  one  of  Dr.  Jackson's  own  witnesses,  George  O.  Barnes,  in  an 
affidavit  published  in  Dr.  Gay's  pamphlet,  says  expressly  :  "In  fact,  he  (Dr. 
Jackson)  was  sorry  that  he  had  communicated  his  discovery  to  Morton, 
and  that  he  had  employed  him  to  make  those  early  experiments  with  the 
ether.     He  spoke  strongly  upon  those  points." 

X  These  were  then,  as  now,  Drs.  John  C.  Warren,  George  Hayward, 
Solomon  D.  Townsend,  Henry  J.  Bigelow,  Samuel  Parkman,  and  J.  Mason 
Warren.  Dr.  Gay  argues  that  Dr.  Morton  did  not,  and  from  his  ignorance 
cordd  not,  run  any  risk  in  following  the  directions  originally  given  by  Dr. 
Jackson.  That  argument  is  certainly  inapplicable  to  these  subsequent  exper- 
iments. 


HOSPITAL    REPORT.  233 

Upon  the  whole,  then,  it  seems  clear  that  to  Dr.  Morton 
the  world  is  indebted  for  this  discovery  ;  and  that,  but  for 
Dr.  Jackson's  scientific  knowledge  and  sound  advice,  Dr. 
Morton  would  not-  have  made  it  at  that  precise  time,  and 
might  have  foiled  to  do  so  at  any  time.  The  one,  having  a 
strong  conviction  of  the  safety  of  the  agent,  has  the  credit  of 
giving  the  best  possible  advice  :  the  other,  by  nature  deter- 
mined and  feai'less,  makes  the  first  actual  application. 
Between  the  discoverer  and  his  adviser,  there  will  henceforth 
ever  be  an  indissoluble,  however  reluctant,  copartnership. 
In  accordance  with  these  general  views  are  the  published 
statements  of  two  of  our  own  oflficers.  One  of  them.  Dr. 
Hay  ward,  says  :  "  It  is  understood,  that  Dr.  C.  T.  Jackson, 
well  known  by  his  great  attainments  in  geology  and  chem- 
istry, first  suggested  the  use  of  ether;  but  to  Dr.  Morton,  I 
think,  must  be  awarded  the  credit  of  being  the  first  who 
demonstrated,  by  actual  experiment  on  the  human  subject, 
the  existence  of  this  wonderful  property."  The  other,  Dr. 
Jacob  Bigelow,  President  of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts 
and  Sciences,  in  an  article  published  in  the  jNIedical  and  Sur- 
gical Journal  of  July  7,  1847,  says:  "In  the  case  of  Dr. 
Jackson,  if  he  did  make  the  discovery  in  1842,  as  asserted, 
or  even  later,  he  stands  accountable  for  the  mass  of  human 
misery  which  he  has  permitted  his  fellow-creatures  to  undergo, 
from  the  time  when  he  made  his  discovery  to  the  time  when 
Dr.  Morton  made  his.  In  charity,  we  prefer  to  believe, 
that,  up  to  the  latter  period,  he  hnd  no  definite  notion  of  the 
real  power  of  ether  in  surgery,  having  seen  no  case  of  its 
application  in  that  science.  The  first  made  partial  experi- 
ments, and  recommended,  but  did  not  make,  decisive  ones. 
The  last  took  the  risk  and  labor  necessary  to- demonstrate  or 
disprove  its  efficacy,  and,  above  all,  the  safety  of  the  pro- 
cess, which,  until  his  time,  had  been  believed  to  be  elangerous 

80 


234  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

to  life,  on  various  good   authorities,  from   Dr.  Christison  to 
Mr.  Peabody. 

In  view  alike  of  the  simplicity  of  the  agent  employed,  the 
magnitude  of  the  results  attained,  and  the  near  approaches 
so  repeatedly  made  to  this  discovery,  how  applicable  are  the 
lines  of  Milton,  to  which  a  friend  has  called  the  attention  of 
the  Committee  ! 

"  Tlie  invention  all  admired,  and  each  how  he  • 

To  he  the  inventor  missed,  so  easy  it  seemed 
Once  found,  which  yet  unfound  most  would  have  thought 
Impossible." 

It  is  matter  of  regret  that  a  noble  discovery  ii\  science 
should  have  been  attended  with  discussions  and  controversy, 
involving  much  bitterness,  and,  as  it  seems  to  us,  disingenu- 
ousness.  Dr.  Morton  distinctly  admits,  that  his  original 
application  to  Dr.  Jackson  was  made  with  a  studied  conceal- 
ment of  his  true  object,  and  an  assumed  ignorance  of  the 
whole  subject  (as  it  would  seem,  even  to  the  extent  of  asking 
if  ether  were  a  gas).  The  motive  of  this  concealment  is 
explained  to  have  been  a  fear  lest  he  should  otherwise  lose 
the  honor  of  any  eventual  discovery  which  he  might  make. 
The  consequences  to  Dr.  Morton  have  been,  however,  that 
many,  relying  on  the  unimpeachable  testimony  of  those  pres- 
ent at  that  interview,  have  been  induced  to  withhold  from 
him  all  credit  whatever,  except  that  of  "  a  nurse  who  adminis- 
ters a  new  and  bold  prescription  of  a  physician,"  *  and  to  re- 

*  This  illustration,  used  by  Dr.  Gay,  seems  to  the  Committee  entirely 
inapplicable.  A  nurse  who  refuses  to  administer  even  a  new  and  bold  pre- 
scription may  be  justly  denounced  by  the  attending  physician  ;  whereas  Dr. 
Morton  was  not  a  student  under  Dr.  Jackson's  orders,  and  obliged  to  admin- 
ister his  remedies  to  one  of  his  (Dr.  Jackson's)  patients.  He  was  a  free 
agent,  who,  after  receiving  the  prescription,  voluntarily  went  and  sought 
out  a  patient  who  was  willing  to  submit  to  it. 


HOSPITAL    REPORT.  235 

gard  him,  throughout  this  discovery,  in  the  false  light  of  a 
mere  agent  of  Dr.  Jackson.  This  culpable  step  has  seemed 
to  increase  the  merit  of  Dr.  Jackson's  advice,  by  rendering  it 
unsolicited  information,  instead  of  a  mere  answer  to  a  direct 
inquiry.  It  has  itself  furnished  the  only  colorable  ground 
for  depriving  Dr.  Morton  of  the  honor  of  the  discovery. 
Thus  fitly  has  the  majesty  of  truth  vindicated  itself !  On  the 
other  hand,  ...  in  a  communication  in  the  Boston  Daily 
Advertiser  of  March  1st,  Dr.  Jackson  says  he  ^^  was  desh^ous 
of  testing  it  (the  ether)  in  a  capital  operation,  and  that 
Dr.  J.  C.  W^an^en  politely  consented  to  have  the  trial 
made;  and  its  results  proved  entirely  satisfactory,  an  amputa- 
tion having  been  performed  under  the  influence  of  ethereal 
vapor,  without  giving  any  pain  to  the  patient."  Whereas 
we  have  two  distinct  published  statements  of  Dr.  Warren, 
one  in  reply  to  a  letter  of  Nov.  30,  1846,  in  which  occurs 
the  following  sentence :  "  Two  or  three  days  after  these 
occurrences  (i.e.  the  first  tivo  operations  at  the  Hospital) , 
on  meeting  with  Dr.  Charles  T.  Jackson,  distinguished  for 
his  philosophical  spirit  of  inquiry,  as  well  as  for  his  geologi- 
cal and  chemical  science,  this  gentleman  informed  me  that  he 
first  suggested  to  Dr.  Morton  the  inspiration  of  ether,  as  a 
means  of  preventing  the  pain  of  operations  on  the  teeth. 
He  did  not  claim  the  invention  of  the  apparatus,  or  its 
practical  application.  For  these  we  are  indebted  to  Dr. 
Morton."  The  other  statement  is  as  follows:  "Boston, 
Jan.  6,  1847.  I  hereby  declare  and  certify,  to  the  best  of 
my  knowledge  and  recollection,  that  I  never  heard  of  the 
use  of  sulphuric  ether  by  inhalation,  as  a  means  of  prevent- 
ing the  pains  of  surgical  operations,  until  it  was  suggested 
by  Dr.  W.  T.  G.  Morton,  in  the  latter  part  of  October, 
1846."  If  it  be  said  that  neither  of  the  first  two  operations 
was  a  capital  one,  we  have  the  authority  of  Dr.   Hayward, 


236  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

who  performed  the  second  operation,*  for  saying  that  it  was 
the  removal  of  a  very  hirge  tumor  from  the  arm,  —  that  it 
occupied  seven  minutes,  —  that,  as  it  involved  the  painful 
process  of  cutting  through  the  skin  to  a  great  extent,  it  was 
as  entirely  satisfactory  as  an  amputation  would  have  been, — 
the  patient  being  free  from  all  sense  of  pain.  One  present 
at  the  operation  exhibited  to  the  Committee  a  sketch  of  the 
arm  and  the  tumor  upon  it,  taken  at  tlie  time,  wliich  clearly 
showed  how  formidable  an  operation  it  must  have  been, 
though  not  perhaps  what  would  be  professionally  called  a 
severe  one.  Dr.  Warren  says  expressly  in  his  yet  unpub- 
lished work,  "  The  patient  exhibited  no  sign  of  physical  or 
intellectual  suffering."  And  yet  it  was  not  until  after  this 
operation,  that  Dr.  Warren  or  Dr.  Hay  ward  had  re- 
ceived an  intimation  that  Dr.  Jackson  hud  any  thing  to 
do  with  the  discovery,  either  from  himself  or  any  one  else. 
The  third  operation  was  a  capital  one,  and  it  was  entirely 
successful.  Alice  Mohan,  a  young  woman  of  twenty  years  of 
age  (who  had  long  been  a  patient  in  our  institution,  and  who 
is  doubtless  well  remembered  by  all  this  Board,  to  whose 
kind  consideration  her  character  and  conduct,  no  less  than 
her  misfortunes,  so  well  entitled  her),  was  to  submit  to  am- 
putation above  the  knee.  But  if  Dr.  Jackson's  statement  is 
to  be  understood  as  applying  only  to  this  case,  we  still  find 
that  every  part  of  the  statement  is  entirely  irreconcilable  with 
the  fjicts.  This  operation  was  performed,  not  by  Dr.  War- 
ren, but  by  Dr.  Hayward.  And  not  only  was  Dr.  Hayvvard 
still  entirely  ignorant  of  Dr.  Jackson's  participation  in  this 
discovery  ;  but  the  dialogue   which  actually  had  taken  place 

*  Tlic  first  operation,  tlie  removal  of  a  tumor  from  the  neck,  was  per- 
formed by  Dr.  Warren,  who  says  that  it  was  a  case  of  imperfect  etherization. 
It  was  performed  Oct.  IG,  1846.  The  second  operation  took  place  Oct.  17, 
and  the  third  on  Nov.  6. 


HOSPITAL    REPORT.  237 

between  Dr.  Warren  and  Dr.  Jackson,  in  relation  to  it,  was 
to  this  eifeet.  Dr.  Warren,  on  being  informed  by  Dr. 
Jackson  that  he  first  suggested  to  Dr.  Morton  the  use  of 
sulphuric  ether,  requested  Dr.  Jachson  to  covie  to  the  Hos- 
pital, and  administer  it  during  this  operation,  which  was 
to  take  place  the  next  Saturday.  Dr.  Jackson,  declined 
doing  so,  for  two  reasons  :  one,  that  he  was  going  out  of 
town  ;  the  other,  that  he  could  not  do  so  consistently  with 
his  arrangements  with  Dr.  Morton.  Dr.  Warren  has  not 
given  to  the  Committee  any  information  respecting  this  con- 
versation ;  but  that  such  was  the  substance  of  the  dialogue  is 
capable  of  judicial  proof  from  other  evidence  which  has  been 
laid  before  the  Committee.  So  that,  if  Dr.  Jackson  at  any 
time  requested  of  Dr.  Warren  to  have  the  ether  administered 
during  a  capital  operation  at  the  Hospital,  it  must  have  been 
after  this  conversation,  in  which  he  declined  to  administer  it, 
and  after  it  had  been  successfully  applied  by  another  without 
his  assistance. 

This  withholding  of  all  credit  from  Dr.  Morton  has  but 
caused  Dr.  Jackson's  own  claims  to  be  the  more  strictly 
scrutinized.  Had  he  been  willing  to  admit  that  the  discov- 
ery was  a  joint  one,  the  world  would  probably  have  allowed 
to  him,  as  a  truly  scientific  man,  the  largest  share  of  the 
honors  resulting  from  it.  The  exclusive  claims  of  Dr. 
Jackson  seem  to  rest  wholly  upon  the  hypothesis,  that  Dr. 
Morton  was,  from  first  to  last,  his  mere  agent,  —  an  idea 
evidently  repudiated  by  Dr.  Morton,  when  he  first  went  to 
Dr.  Warren,  without  even  naming  Dr.  Jachson;  and  most 
openly  and  unequivocally  disavowed  by  Dr.  Jackson  himself, 
during  the  whole  series  of  Dr.  Morton's  experiments.  The 
Committee  think  that  Dr.  Jackson's  own  early  acts  have, 
indeed,  for  ever  rendered  inadmissible  these  exclusive  claims. 
He  at  first  ao-reed  to  receive  from  Dr.  Morton  the  sura  of  five 


238  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

hundred  dollars,  as  a  compensation  for  his  services.  Is  it, 
for  one  moment,  conceivable  that  the  true  discoverer  would 
have  thus  bartered  away  his  birthright  for  a  mess  of  pottage  ? 
And  when  subsequently,  at  the  suggestion  of  the  Solicitor 
of  Patents,  a  personal  intimate  friend  of  Dr.  Jackson,  Dr. 
Morton  consented  to  permit  Dr.  Jackson's  name  to  be  asso- 
ciated with  his  own  in  the  patent,  —  he  having  agreed, 
instead  of  the  five  hundred  dollars,  to  receive  one  tenth  part 
only  of  the  profits,  —  we  ask  again.  Is  it  conceivable  that 
the  sole  discoverer  would  have  thus  associated  another  with 
himself,  taking  even  an  oath  that  they  were  joint  discoverers, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  have  consented  to  receive  only  a  pit- 
tance of  what  was  wholly  his  own  ?  No  !  We  consider 
that  Dr.  Jackson  is  estopped  for  ever  from  such  a  claim, 
and  that  not  upon  technical  grounds,  but  by  the  whole  equity 
of  the  case.  We  will  not,  however,  further  pursue  this  un- 
gracious part  of  our  subject. 

It  is  further  matter  of  regret  that  a  patent  should  have 
been  taken  out  for  such  a  discovery.  As  well  might  Dr. 
Franklin  have  claimed  one  for  the  exclusive  use  of  the 
electric  fluid.  A  patent  in  this  case,  indeed,  would  seem  to 
be  a  peculiarly  odious  monopoly,  —  a  speculation  based  upon 
human  suffering,  —  like  an  exclusive  right  to  sell  breadstufFs 
to  a  famishing  community.  It  is  due,  however,  to  Dr.  Mor- 
ton to  state  that  he  tendered  the  free  use  of  the  discovery  to 
this  institution,  and  requested  from  Dr.  John  C.  Warren  a 
list  of  all  similar  institutions  in  the  country,  that  he  might 
extend  its  benefits  to  them.*  He,  in  like  manner,  tend- 
ered the  free  use  of  it  to  the  army  and  navy  of  the 
United  States.     His   design  was,    as   he   alleges,   to   charge 

*  He  certainly  made  the  oflfer,  without  any  previous  request  from  this 
Board  ;  though  a  witness  of  Dr.  Jackson's  states  that  it  was  made  at  his 
suggestion,  and  with  a  reluctant  acquiescence  on  tiie  part  of  Dr.  Morton. 


HOSPITAL    REPORT.  239 

to  practitioners  a  moderate  annual  sum,  which,  he  thought, 
would  be  paid  cheerfully,  and  without  inconvenience,  by 
their  respective  patients.*  Dr.  Jackson's  name  would  not 
have  been  associated  in  the  patent,  but  at  the  instigation  of 
E.  H.  Eddy,  Esq.,  the  solicitor,  who  has  publicly  avowed 
that  lie  acted  under  a  mistaken  apprehension  of  facts,  and 
who  now  awards  to  Dr.  Morton  the  sole  honor  of  the 
discovery,  which  at  the  time  he  supposed  might  fairly  be  re- 
garded as  a  joint  one.  Mr.  Eddy's  intelligence  and  truthful- 
ness, and  his  sincere  friendship  for  Dr.  Jackson,  are  well 
known  in  this  community.  But  we  must  state  our  convic- 
tion, that  it  was  a  sad  mistake  to  have  resorted  to  any  exclu- 
sive legal  right  in  the  present  instance.  This  has  become 
the  deliberate  opinion  of  the  profession  and  of  the  public. 
One  of  the  patentees.  Dr.  Jackson,  after  applying  to  be  ad- 
mitted to  a  larger  share  of  the  profits,  ultimately  renounced 
all  claims  to  any  benefit  from  this  source  ;  and  the  patent  has 
alao  become  unavailable  to  Dr.  Morton. f     We  cannot,  how- 

*  In  Ins  licenses  was  inserted  a  clause,  that  such  payments  were  to  cease, 
if  the  United  States,  or  the  State  where  the  practitioner  lived,  should  pur- 
chase the  right  to  use  the  discovery. 

t  The  two  gentlemen  who  acted  as  legal  advisers  of  Dr.  Jackson  ad- 
dressed a  letter  to  Messrs.  R.  H.  Eddy  and  W.  T.  G.  Morton,  dated  Boston, 
January  28,  1847,  containing  the  two  following  sentences:  "Under  the 
present  circumstances  of  the  c  ase,  we  think  the  least  that,  in  justice  to  your- 
selves and  Dr.  Jackson,  you  can  offer  is  25  per  cent  of  the  profits  arising 
from  the  invention,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  in  settlement  of  his  claim 
upon  you." 

"It  is  our  wish  to  settle  the  matter  amicably,  if  possible.  We  hope  you 
will  see,  by  our  suggestions,  that  we  wish  only  to  have  a  fair  distribution  of 
the  profits  of  a  discovery  made  among  those  who  cannot,  if  they  disagree, 
efiectually  sustain  the  patent ;  and  wliich,  if  sustained,  promises  to  give  to  all 
parties  large  sums  of  money  for  their  united  co-operation."  Dr.  Gay,  however, 
says  that  Dr.  Jackson  "  deemed  it  a  sort  of  impropriety  to  procure  letters 
patent  for  the  practical  application  of  scientific  discoveries.  He  himself 
never  would  have  procured  one  merely  for  his  own  pecuniary  benefit,  in  a 
case  so  important  to  the  interests  of  humanity." 

In  the  memorial  before  referred  to,  as  presented  by  Dr.  Morton  to  the 


240  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

ever,  but  wish  that  it  had  been  originally  taken  out  rather 
from  the  hope  of  securing  to  themselves  the  honor  than  the 
profits  of  the  discovery.  And  yet  a  national  benefit  of  such 
magnitude  is  well  entitled  to  a  national  reward.  It  may  be 
true  that  Dr.  Jackson  does  not  need  or  now  wish  such  re- 
ward ;  but  it  is  a  mortifying  fact  that  Dr.  Morton's  pecuniary 
affiiirs  liave  become  embarrassed,  in  consequence  of  the  in- 
terruption of  his  regular  business,  resulting  from  his  efforts 
and  experiments  in  establishing  this  great  truth,  and  that  his 
health  has  also  seriously  suflPered  from  the  same  cause,  so 
that  he  can  devote  only  a  small  part  of  each  day  to  his  pro- 
fessional labors.  He  has  become  poor  in  a  cause  which  has 
made  the  world  his  debtor.  The  Committee  are,  in  this  con- 
nection, authorized  to  state,  that  a  memorial  was  prepared  by 
the  physicians  and  surgeons  of  this  institution,  to  be  forward- 
ed to  Congress  at  its  present  session,  and  had  been  already 
signed  by  eleven  of  them  (all  except  Dr.  J.  B.  S.  Jackson), 
when  further  proceedings  were  stopped  by  a  remonstrance 
from  Dr.  C.  T.  Jackson,  This  memorial,  as  embodvins:  the 
views  of  these  officers,  is  placed  at  the  disposal  of  your  Com- 
mittee ;  and  we  cannot  better  close  this  discussion  than  by 
subjoining  tlie  following  C02)y  of  the  document  referred  to  :  — 

"  To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  in  Congress  assembled. 

"  The  undersigned,  Physicians  and  Surgeons  of  the  Massacluisctts 
General  Hospital,  beg  leave  to  represent,  — 

"  That,  in  the  year  1846,  a  discovery  was  made  in  the  city  of  Boston, 
by  which  the  human  body  is  rendered  insensible  to  pain,  during  surgical 

French  Academy,  the  closing  sentence  is  as  follows:  "  But,  as  the  use  has 
become  general  and  almost  necessary,  I  have  long  since  abandoned  the  sale 
of  rigiits  (under  the  patent),  and  the  public  use  the  ether  freely;  and,  I  be- 
lieve, 1  am  the  only  person  in  the  world  to  whom  tiiis  discovery  has  so  far 
been  a  pecuniary  loss." 


HOSPITAL    REPORT.  241 

operations,  and  rlnring  other  serious  and  violent  affections,  by  means  of 
the  vapor  of  ether  inhaled  into  the  lungs. 

"  That  a  patent  for  this  discovery  was  taken  out  by  two  citizens  of 
Boston,  l)y  whom  the  first  satisfactory  experiments  on  the  prevention 
of  pain  by  this  means  had  been  made ;  and  the  first  capital  operations, 
conducted  under  the  influence  of  this  agent,  were  performed  in  the 
INIassachusetts  General  Hospital  by  the  surgeons  of  that  institution. 

"  That  the  success  of  this  method  of  preventing  pain  has  been  abun- 
dantly and  completely  established  by  a  hundred  and  fifteen  operations 
performed  in  said  Hospital  during  the  last  year,  and  by  a  still  greater 
number  out  of  it  in  the  city  of  Boston. 

"And,  in  all  cases  within  the  knowledge  of  the  undersigned,  it  has 
greatly  mitigated,  or  wholly  prevented,  the  pain,  when  skilfully  adminis- 
tered, and  in  no  case  has  any  fatal  or  disastrous  consequence  followed 
its  use  within  their  observation ;  and  although  inconveniences  and  tem- 
porary disturbances  of  the  nervous  system  have  sometimes  followed  its 
application,  yet  these  are  exceptions  to  a  general  rule,  and  are  not  more 
common  than  those  which  result  from  the  employment  of  other  powerful 
medicinal  agents,  and  are  incomparably  less  distressing  than  the  evils 
they  are  employed  to  obviate. 

"  The  undersigned  have  reason  to  believe,  that,  since  the  introduction 
of  this  process,  some  thousands  of  persons  have  inhaled  ether,  in  Boston 
and  its  vicinity,  with  impunity  and  benefit ;  that  its  value  is  already  recog- 
nized, and  its  employment  introduced  into  most  parts  of  Europe ;  that 
the  use  of  the  process  ought  to  be,  and  by  judicious  arrangements  prob- 
ably will  be,  extended  into  all  parts  of  the  United  States;  and  that  no 
discovery  in  medical  science,  during  the  present  century,  has  relieved  as 
much  suffering,  and  conferred  so  great  a  benefit  on  humanity,  as  the  dis- 
covery of  the  power  and  application  of  ether. 

"  The  undersigned  are  aware,  that  the  power  of  ether  to  produce  in- 
sensibility, and  even  death  when  improperly  used,  was  known  In  Europe 
many  years  ago.  They  are  also  aware  that  other  aeriform  bodies  have 
been  experimented  on,  and  the  vapor  of  ether  itself  unsuccessfully  tried, 
by  other  individuals.  In  surgical  operations ;  but  they  are  satisfied,  that 
the  safety  of  the  process,  and  the  effectual  mode  of  applying  It,  were 
first  made  known  in  Boston  in  1846. 

"Understanding  that  the  use  of  this  important  discovery  is  now 
restricted  by  letters  patent  granted  from  the  office  of  the  Secretary  of 
State,  and  believing  that  it  is  the  policy  of  wise  governments  to  diffuse 
among  their  constituents  the  blessings  of  such   discoveries  as  tend  to 

31 


242  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

alleviate  human  suffering,  and,  at  the  same  time,  to  reward  those  who 
have  conferred  such  benefits  upon  the  world,  — the  undersigned  respectfully 
pray,  that  such  sums  as  shall  be  thought  adequate  may  be  paid  by  the 
government  of  the  United  States  to  those  persons  who  shall  be  found, 
on  investigation,  to  merit  compensation  for  the  benefit  conferred  on  the 
public  by  this  discovery,  and  on  condition  of  the  relinquishment  by  them 
of  any  patent  right  they  may  hold  resti'icting  its  use. 


(Signed)         "  John  C.  Wakren. 
Jacob  Bigelow. 
Geo.  Hayward. 
Enoch  Hale. 
s.  d.  townsend. 
John  D.  Fisher. 


II.  I.  BOWDITCH. 

O.  W.  Holmes. 
J.  Mason  Warren. 
Samuel  Parkman. 
Henry  J.  Bigelow. 


"Boston,  Nov.  20,  1847." 


As  a  general  summary  of  facts  and  views,  the  Committee 
report,  that  in  their  judgment  the  following  propositions  are 
satisfactorily  established  :  — 

Down  to  Sept.  30,  1846,  Dr.  Jackson  had  discovered 
nothing  that  had  not  been  known  and  in  print  in  London 
for  some  years.  It  was  known  that  ether  would  produce 
insensibility  ;  tliat  such  insensibility,  though  sometimes  fatal, 
was  sometimes  safe  ;  and  that  one  of  the  ])roperties  of  ether 
was  its  power  to  obviate  the  ill  effects  of  an  inhalation  of 
chlorine  gas.  The  discovery  of  the  safety  and  efficacy  of  the 
inhalation  of  ether  in  surgical  operations  had  not  yet  been 
made  ;  the  only  experiments  which  Dr.  Jackson  had  tried, 
or  caused  to  be  tried,  being  those  already  prescribed  by  the 
text-books.  Dr.  Jackson  had  for  some  time  entertained  a 
strong  impression  that  it  could  be  used  with  safety  and  effect 
during  the  operations  of  the  dentist,  —  a  conjecture  which  a 
hundred  other  persons  may  have  made  without  discovering 
the  fact;  and  incidentally,  on  more  than  one  occasion,  he 
had  advised  its  use  for  that  class  of  operations,  but  had  been 
unable  to  persuade  any  one  to  use  it,  not  even  persons  of 


HOSPITAL    REPORT.  243 

science  and  intelligence,  who  were  most  fiimillar  with  all  that 
Dr.  Jackson  knew  or  thought  upon  this  subject. 

Prior  to  tliis  time,  Dr.  Wells  had  used  the  nitrous  oxide 
for  this  object,  as  recommended  many  years  before  by  Sir 
H.  Davy.  His  experiments  performed  in  Boston  were,  how- 
ever, unsuccessful,  lie  also  claims  to  have  performed  one 
experiment  with  sulphuric  ether,  which,  from  the  circum- 
stances, must  also  necessarily  be  inferred  to  have  been  unsuc- 
cessful. And  there  is  positive  evidence  that  the  most  eminent 
physicians  of  Boston  never  heard  of  the  latter  experiment  till 
after  Dr.  Morton's  discovery. 

Dr.  Morton  had  for  some  time  been  engaged  in  searching 
for  a  safe  agent  for  promoting  insensibility  during  dental 
operations.  He  knew  of,  and  had  upon  one  occasion  taken 
part  in,  the  nitrous-oxide  experiments  of  Dr.  Wells. 

As  early  as  July,  1846,  he  purchased  sulphuric  ether,  and 
proceeded  to  experiment  upon  it.  On  Sept.  30,  184(), 
he  has  an  interview  with  Dr.  Jackson,  and  receives  his  de- 
cided advice  to  use  pure  rectified  sulphuric  ether  during  a 
dental  operation,  accompanied  with  the  strongest  assurances 
of  its  safety,  and  with  the  information  where  it  could  be 
obtained.  Dr.  Morton,  unlike  others  who  had  received  this 
advice,  and  notwithstanding  he  knew  the  prevailing  belief  of 
the  dangerous  and  sometimes  fatal  character  of  this  agent,* 
forthwith  acted  upon  it.  That  he  proceeded  to  inhale  it  him- 
self, rests,  indeed,  on  his  own  assertion.  The  Committee 
have  no  doubt  of  its  truth.  He  certainly  administered  it  to 
a  patient.       By  so  doing,  he  made  this  discovery. '\       On 

*  See  Mr.  Metcalf  s  letter,  p.  228., 

t  Indeed,  it  seems  to  be  distinctly  admitted  by  the  advocate  of  Dr.  Jack- 
son, that  he  had  made  no  discovery  in  this  case  prior  to  Sept.  30,  1846.  Dr. 
Gay  says  expressly,  in  commenting  upon  Dr.  Wells's  claims  :  "  Although  so 
much  time  (two  and  a  half  years)  has  elapsed  since  Mr.  Wells's  experiments. 


244  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

leiirnlng  this  result,  Dr.  Jackson  very  naturally  suggested  to 
Dr.  Morton  that  he  had  better  get  the  ether  tried  by  the 
surgeons  of  the  Hospital,  which  a  witness  of  Dr.  Morton's, 
however,   alleges  that  he  had  previously  determined  to  do. 


he  presents  no  evidence  of  its  adoption  into  general  surgical  practice,  even 
in  that  flourishing  city.  Tt  required  little  more  than  the  same  nitmher  of  months 
to  diffuse  the  knowledge  and  application  of  Dr.  Jackson's  discovery  throughout  the 
civilized  world." 

In  fact,  the  specification  accompanying  the  patent,  and  signed  both  by 
Dr.  Jackson  and  Dr.  Morton,  and  bearing  date  Oct.  27,  1846,  is  most  distinct 
in  the  same  admission.  We  subjoin  the  following  extracts,  in  proof  of  this 
position,  and  also  of  the  fact  that  Dr.  Jackson  did  not  regard  sulphuric  ether 
as  the  sole  agent  which  might  be  used  to  produce  insensibility  to  pain  :  — 

"  It  is  well  known  to  chemists,  that,  when  alcohol  is  submitted  to  distil- 
lation with  certain  acids,  peculiar  compounds,  termed  ethers,  are  formed  ; 
each  of  which  is  usually  distinguislied  by  the  name  of  the  acid  employed  in 
its  preparation.  It  has  also  been  known  tliat  the  vapors  of  some,  if  not  all, 
of  these  chemical  distillations,  particularly  those  of  sulphuric  ether,  when 
breathed  or  introduced  into  the  lungs  of  an  animal,  have  produced  a  peculiar 
eflTect  on  its  nervous  system,  one  which  has  been  supposed  to  be  analogous 
to  what  is  usually  termed  intoxication." 

"  It  lias  never  (to "our  knowledge)  been  known,  until  our  discovery,  that  the 
inhalation  of  such  vapors,  particularly  those  of  sulphuric  ether,  would  produce 
insensibility  to  pain,  or  such  a  state  of  quiet  nervous  action  as  to  render  a 
person  or  animal  incapahie,  to  a  great  extent,  if  not  entirely,  of  experiencing 
pain  while  under  the  action  of  the  knife,  or  other  instrument  of  operation  of 
a  surgeon,  calculated  to  produce  pain." 

"  This  is  our  discovery,"  &c. 

"  From  the  experiments  we  have  made,  ive  are  led  to  prefer  the  vapors  of 
sulphuric  ether  to  those  of  muriatic  or  other  kinds  of  ether ;  but  any  such  may  be 
employed  which  will  properly  produce  the  stale  of  insensibility,  without  any  inju- 
rious consequences  to  the  patient." 

The  testimony  of  Dr.  Keep  and  of  Mr.  Barnes,  as  to  Dr.  Morton's  not 
being  aware  of  the  importance  of  the  admission  of  atmospheric  air,  having 
been  commented  upon  by  the  Committee,  it  is  proper  here  to  add  tiie  fact, 
that  in  this  very  specification  occurs  the  following  sentence  in  the  description 
of  the  apparatus  to  be  employed:  "Let  there  be  a  hole  made  through  the  side 
of  the  vessel  for  the  admission  of  atmospheric  air,"  &c.  And  the  original  appa- 
ratus first  used  at  the  Hospital  by  Dr.  Morton  is,  as  the  Connnittee  are 
informed,  expressly  constructed  so  as  to  admit  atmospheric  air.     Besides, 


HOSPITAL    REPORT.  245 

But  all  the  subsequent  steps  were  taken  by  Dr.  Morton  him- 
self, without  the  slightest  sympathy  or  co-operation  on  the 
part  of  Dr.  Jackson,  who,  from  alleged  fear  of  his  reckless- 
ness, withheld  from  him  all  countenance  and  encoui-agement. 
In  view  of  these  facts,  the  Committee  are  of  opinion,  that 
the  exclusive  claims  advanced  by  Dr.  Jackson,*  though  now 
very  extensively  recognized  in  foreign  countries,  are  un- 
founded, being  unwarranted  alike  by  his  acts  and  by  his 
omissions  ;  and  that  they  involve  great  injustice  towards  Dr. 
Morton;  —  that  their  names  will  be  for  ever  jointly,  though 
not  equally,  associated  in  this  discovery  ;  Dr.  Jackson  being- 
entitled  to  the  credit  of  having  rendered  readily  avaiUible  the 
existing  knowledge  upon  the  subject  of  ether,  which  Dr. 
Morton  was  really,  though  not  avowedly,  seeking  to  obtain  ; 
and  Dr.  Morton  having  first  demonstrated  its  safety  and  effi- 
cacy in  the  prevention  of  pain  during  surgical  operations  ;  — 
and  that  Dr.  Morton,  by  consenting  to  permit  Dr.  Jackson's 
name  to  be  united  with  his  in  the  patent,  with  the  right  to 
receive  one-tenth  part  of  its  profits,  has  shown  himself  dis- 
posed, fairly  and  honorably,  to  recognize  the  amount  of  his 
indebtedness  to  Dr.  Jackson's  advice. 

had  no  atmospheric  air  been  admitted,  his  patients  would  probably  have 
been  killed,  discredit  thrown  upon  the  process,  and  the  discovery  perhaps 
postponed  for  ages. 

It  may  also  be  remarked,  that,  in  view  of  this  disclaimer,  by  Dr.  Jackson, 
of  any  discovery  prior  to  Sept.  30,  1846,  it  seems  difficult  to  explain  an 
expression  which  is  quoted  by  Mr.  Warren,  in  his  pamphlet,  as  extracted 
from  Dr  Jackson's  letter  to  M.  Elie  de  Beaumont,  originally  published  in 
"  Galignani's  Messenger,"  Jan.  25,  1847 ;  namely :  "  I  have  latterly  turned 
this  discovery  to  use,  by  inducing  a  dentist  of  this  city  to  administer  the 
vapor  of  ether  to  persons  whose  teeth  he  was  going  to  extract." 

*  That  such  claims  are  really  advanced  by  Dr.  Jackson  is  well  known. 
He  said  indeed  to  one  of  the  Committee,  "  I  allow  of  no  partnership  in  this 
matter.  If  j'our  report  takes  from  me  such  a  proportion  of  the  sole  credit  of 
this  discovery  as  amounts  even  to  the  paring  of  a  Jinger-nail,  I  shall  entirely 
object  to  it." 


246  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

The  essential  conclusions  in  the  case  may  be  thus  con- 
cisely stated  :  —  , 

1st,  Dr.  Jackson  does  not  appear  at  any  time  to  have  made 
any  discovery,  in  regard  to  ether,  which  was  not  in  print  in 
Great  Britain  some  years  before. 

2d,  Dr.  Morton,  in  1846,  discovered  the  facts  before  un- 
known, that  ether  would  prevent  the  pain  of  surgical  operations ; 
and  that  it  might  be  given  in  sufficient  quantity  to  effect  this  pur- 
pose, without  danger  to  life.  He  first  established  these  facts  by 
numerous  operations  on  teeth,  and  afterwards  induced  the  surgeons 
of  the  Hospital  to  demonstrate  its  general  appUcability  and  im- 
portance in  capital  operations. 

3d,  Dr.  Jackson  appcurs  to  hnxe  had  the  belief,  that  a  power 
in  ether  to  prevent  pain  in  dental  operations  would  be  discovered. 
He  advised,  various  persons  to  attempt  the  discovery.  But 
neither  they  nor  he  took  any  measures  to  that  end;  and  the 
world  remained,  in  entire  ignorance  of  both  the  power  and  safety 
of  ether,  until  Dr.  Morton  made  his  experiments. 

4th,  The  whole  agency  of  Dr.  Jackson  in  the  matter  appears 
to  consist  only  in  his  having  made  certain  suggestions,  which  led 
or  aided  Dr.  Mortot,  to  make  the  discovery,  —  a,  discovery  ichich 
had  for  some  time  been  the  object  of  his  labors  and  researches.* 

The  Committee  are  well  aware,  that  any  investigation  and 
opinion  which  shall  have  the  sanction  of  this  Board, — em- 


*  The  results  otlierwise  arrived  at  by  the  Committee  have  received  the 
highest  confirmation  from  Professor  Simpson,  the  discoverer  of  ciiloroform, 
wlio  has  transniitteil  to  Dr.  Morton  a  copy  of  his  pamphlet  entitled  "  Ac- 
count of  a  New  Anaesthetic  Agent,  as  a  Substitute  for  Sulphuric  Ether  in 
Surgery  and  Midwifery,"  with  the  following  note  written  upon  one  of  its 
blank  pages : — 

"My  dear  Sir,  —  I  liavo  much  pleasure  in  offering,  for  your  kind  accept- 
ance, the  accompanying  pamphlet.     Since  it  was  ijublished,  we  have  had 


HOSPITAL    REPORT.  247 

anating,  as  all  must  admit,  from  those  who  ought  to  know 
most  of  the  drcumstances  of  this  discovery,  —  will  be 
entitled  to  jjreat  weio-ht.  That  investigation  has  been  con- 
ducted  by  the  Committee  under  a  solemn  sense  of  responsi- 
bility to  the  public,  to  posterity,  and  to  the  cause  of  truth 
and  justice.  Personal  feelings  have  been  laid  aside.  AVhen 
this  inquiry  was  instituted,  neither  of  the  Committee  had 
ever  seen  Dr.  Morton  ;  and  both  of  them,  on  the  other  hand, 
were  in  friendly  relations  with  Dr.  Jackson.  There  had 
always  existed  between  them  and  him  feelings  of  mutual 
respect  and  regard.  No  friend  of  Dr.  Jackson  would  will- 
ingly remove  a  merited  laurel  from  the  brows  of  one  whose 
scientific  attainments,  upright  intentions,  and  amiable  charac- 
ter, all  are  happy  to  acknowledge.  The  Committee,  indeed, 
believe  that  he  is  honestly  self-deceived  in  this  matter. 

We  submit  our  Report  upon  this  subject  to  the  Board,  in 
the  assurance  that  it  will  receive  their  deliberate  examination, 

various  otlier  operations  performed  here,  equally  successful.  I  have  a  note 
from  Mr.  Liston,  telling  me  also  of  its  perfect  success  in  London.  Its 
rapidity  and  depth  are  amazing. 

"  In  the  Mont  fill/  Journal  of  Medical  Science  for  September,  I  have  a  long  arti- 
cle on  etherization,  vindicating  your  claims  over  those  of  Jackson. 

"  0/ course  the  great  thought  is  that  0/  producing  insensibility ;  and  for  that 
the  world  is,  I  think,  indebted  to  you. 

"  I  read  a  paper  lately  to  our  Society,  showing  that  it  was  recommended 
by  Pliny,  &c.  in  old  times. 

"  With  very  great  esteem  for  you,  allow  me  to  subscribe  myself, 

"  Yours  very  fiiithfully,  "J.  Y.  Simpson. 

"Edinburgh,  19th  November,  1847." 

Accordingly,  in  a  note  published  with  the  article  referred  to,  is  the  follow- 
ing sentence :  "  Within  the  last  few  days,  I  have  seen  a  pamphlet,  dated 
Boston,  May  30, 1847,  in  which  it  is  stated,  that,  for  three  months  previously, 
all  apparatus  had  been  laid  aside,  and  the  sponge  alone  used  for  etherization, 
by  Dr.  Morton,  of  that  city,  —  the  gentleman  to  whom,  I  believe,  the  pro- 
fession and  mankind  are  really  and  truly  indebted  for  first  reducing  into 
practice  the  production  of  insensibility  by  ether-inhalation,  with  the  object 
of  annihilating  pain  in  surgical  operations." 


248  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

and  that  its  conclusions  will  be  adopted,  if  at  all,  under  a 
like  solemn  sense  of  responsibility.* 

*  A  few  remarks  upon  tlie  manner  in  which  this  inquiry  has  heen  pur- 
sued may  not  perhaps  be  inappropriate. 

The  Committee  considered,  that,  as  Dr.  Morton  alone  assisted  in  tiie 
early  experiments  at  tlie  Hospital,  they  were  not  strictly  called  upon  to  men- 
tion Dr.  Jackson  ;  but,  inasmuch  as  Dr.  Gay's  pamphlet  had  been  for  some 
time  before  the  world,  and  also  Mr.  Warren's  reply,  it  seemed  tliat  the  whole 
subject  had  been  submitted  by  the  parties  to  the  tribunal  of  the  public,  and 
that  the  public  would  reasonably  expect  from  this  institution  such  a  narra- 
tive of  the  facts  as  might  be  prepared  from  these  and  from  olhei-  sources  more 
espfcially  within  our  reach.  Both  these  pamphlets  were  therefore  very  care- 
fully examined  and  compared ;  twenty-two  individuals,  most  conversant 
with  the  subject,  consulted  :  and  the  report  substantially  prepared.  The 
Committee  then  deemed  it  advisable  to  address  a  note  to  Dr.  Jackson,  in- 
forming him  that  Dr.  Gay's  pamphlet  had  been  considered  by  them  as  con- 
taining a  full  statement  of  his  claims  ;  that  if,  however,  he  had  any  additional 
fiicts  to  communicate,  tiie  Committee  would  be  happy  to  receive  tiiem.  The 
result  was  two  personal  interviews,  besides  one  of  three  hours'  duration 
(by  express  appointment)  with  Dr.  Gay  in  behalf  of  Dr.  Jackson.  Dr.  Gay 
offered  to  prove  certain  facts,  having  no  connection  with  or  relation  to  this 
discovery,  which  the  Committee  declined  hearing.  He  also  said  he  had 
other  evidence  of  a  strictly  confidential  character,  which  was  also  declined. 
He  then  proceeded  to  comment  upon  the  testimony  contained  in  Mr.  War- 
ren's pamphlet.  All  his  arguments  and  objections  upon  this  point  have 
been  fairly  stated  by  the  Committee  from  memoranda  taken  at  the  time ; 
and  the  deliberate  views  of  tlie  Committee,  in  relation  to  these  objections, 
have  been  also  stated.  Tiie  Committee,  at  this  interview,  wished  to  know 
the  worst  that  could  be  suggested  as  to  tlie  credibility  of  these  witnesses. 
Few  remarks  were  therefore  made  to  Dr.  Gay  as  to  the  sufficiency  of  liis 
objections  ;  but  they  were  noted  as  subjects  for  future  investigation.  The 
Committee  may  have  said,  "  Well,  putting  this  deposition  aside  for  this 
ground,  what  is  your  objection  to  the  next  deposition  ?  "  But  it  was,  on  the 
other  hand,  distinctly  suggested  to  Dr.  Gay,  that  two  of  these  witnesses 
were  very  favorably  spoken  of,  and  that  the  testimony  of  Whitman,  whose 
character  even  Dr.  Gay  admitted  to  have  been  above  suspicion,  was  obvi- 
ously confirmatory  of  matters  stated  by  the  two  witnesses  referred  to  ;  and 
that  even  Whitman's  testimony  alone  was  sufficient  to  prove  that  Dr.  Mor- 
ton was  striving  to  realize  the  idea  of  this  discovery,  and  was  therefore 
irreconcilable  with  Dr.  Jackson's  exclusive  claims. 

The  Committee  mentioned  to  Dr.  Jackson,  that  they  had  obtained  some 


HOSPITAL    REPORT.  249 

[Appended  to  this  Report  was  the  following  letter  from 
Mr.   Wightman  :  — ] 

"  N.  I.  Bowditcli,  Esq.  "  Boston,  Feb.  10,  1848. 

"  Dear  Sir,  —  In  answer  to  your  note  of  yesterday,  desiring-  any  infor- 
mation I  might  be  able  to  communicate  with  regard  to  Dr.  Morton's 
application  of  other,  I  am  happy  to  render  the  following  statement  fo 
the   use    of  the    Ti-u.stees   of   the    Hospital,  which,  if  it  will    aid    their 
investigations,  is  entirely  at  their  service, 

new  testimony  in  tavor.of  Dr.  Morton  (meaning  the  letters  of  Mr.  Metealf 
and  of  Dr.  Dana)  ;  but,  believing  tliat  tlie  testimony  in  these  letters  was  of 
a  nature  not  to  be  rebutted,  the  Committee  did  not  feel  called  upon  to  state 
tlie  fact  that  either  of  tliese  two  gentlemen  had  been  consulted.  The  Com- 
mittee felt  themselves  perfectly  free,  like  every  one  else,  to  form  and  to 
express  an  opinion  upon  a  matter  of  universal  interest  and  importance,  and 
which  indeed  seemed  to  tall  naturally  within  their  peculiar  province,  even 
t/wiitjh  theji  had  not  the  previous  permission  cf  Dr.  Jackson.  Their  report  had 
been  unanimously  accepted  by  the  Trustees,  and  presented  to  and  miani- 
mously  accepted  by  the  Corporation.  While  it  was  in  process  of  publication, 
a  note  was  received  from  Dr.  Gay,  alleging  that  he  supposed  his  objections 
to  the  testimony  in  Mr.  Warren's  pamphlet  were  recognized  by  the  Com- 
mittee as  well  founded,  and  protesting  against  the  course  pursued  by  the 
Trustees  of  tlie  Massachusetts  General  Hospital  in  giving  "  any  countenance 
to  the  attempt  of  Mr.  Morton  to  rob  Dr.  Jackson  of  his  sacred  right  to  his 
own  discovery."  Dr.  Gay,  in  his  note,  significandy  adds,  that  "Dr.  Jack- 
son has  always,  excepting  in  one  unguarded  moment,  declined  submitting 
his  claims  to  any  tribunal,  either  to  be  agreed  upon  by  the  parties,  or  self- 
constituted  and  forced  upon  lilrn."  He  alleges  that  Dr.  Jackson  has  much  new 
evidence,  that  the  investigation  of  the  Committee  must  necessarily  have 
been  partial,  &c.  This  note  of  Dr.  Gay  was  laid  before  the  Trustees,  at  a 
meeting  held  Feb.  6  ;  but  they  deemed  no  action  necessary  thereupon.  The 
Committee  claim  no  judicial  powers  or  functions.  Dr.  Jackson  is  perfectly 
free  to  continue  in  his  present  determination  of  never  submitting  his  exclu- 
sive claims  to  any  human  tribunal,  or  he  may  hereafter  submit  them  to  one 
which  he  shall  regard  as  more  competent  or  impartial.  If,  by  any  new 
evidence,  he  can  establish  these  claims,  he  is  still  at  liberty  so  to  do.  The 
Conmiittee  can  only  state,  that  they  have  endeavored  to  prosecute  their 
inquiries  in  a  fair,  cautious,  and  thorough  manner,  and  that  they  feel  the 
iitmost  confidence  in  the  soundness  of  the  conclusions  at  which  they  have 
arrived  ;  and,  conscious  that  no  proceeding  or  neglect  on  their  part  has  justi- 
fied the  remarks  of  Dr.  Gay,  they  here  take  leave  of  this  subject/oc  ever. 

32 


250  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

"  My  acquaintance  with  Dr.  Morton  commenced  in  the  summer  of 
1846,  when  he  applied  to  me  for  some  information  upon  Increasing  the 
security  of  artificial  teeth  by  atmospheric  pressure.  A  short  time  after- 
wards (I  think  within  a  few  weeks),  he  called  again,  and,  in  reply  to  me, 
stated  that  he  had  abandoned  his  views  on  atmospheric  pressiire,  which 
he  found  were  erroneous,  and  ivas  then  engaged  upon  something  of  much 
greater  importance  in  his  p>'''('fcs-'^ion.  He  then  wished  me  to  show  him 
some  bags  of  India-rubber  cloth,  m,ade  for  retaining  gas,  and  inquired 
tohether  it  tvould  do  to  pud  sidphuric  ether  into  them.  My  answer  was,  that 
ether  was  used  to  soften  rubber,  and  might  dissolve  It  so  as  to  make  the 
bag  leak.  He  then  asked  me  if  an  oiled  silk  bag  would  retain  it.  I 
told  Iilm  that  the  silk  was  covered  with  a  preparation  of  linseed  oil,  which  I 
had  no  doubt  would  be  acted  upon  by  the  ether;  but,  as  I  coald  give  him 
no  certain  information  respecting  the  effect,  I  advised  him  to  call  upon 
Dr.  (Jharles  T.  Jackson,  who  was  well  versed  in  these  matters,  and  could 
give  him  the  necessaiy  information.  He  then  observed  that  Dr.  Jackson 
was  a  friend  of  his  ;  that  he  had  boarded  in  his  family  ;  had  been  a  stu- 
dent with  him ;  and  that  he  did  not  think  of  it  before,  but  would  call 
upon  him. 

"  A  few  days  after  this  Interview,  Dr.  Morton  came  to  me  for  some 
chemical  glasses,  and  appeared  inclined  to  keep  from  me  the  purpose  for 
which  he  wished  them ;  but,  in  the  course  of  the  conversation,  I  had  no 
question  in  my  mind  but  they  were  for  experiments  with  ether.  The 
article  he  then  took  not  answering  his  purpose,  he  visited  my  rooms  a 
number  of  times  during  the  week ;  and,  after  trying  various  articles,  he 
informed  me  that  what  he  wished  to  have  was  something  which  would 
allow  ether  to  be  inhaled  from  it,  to  produce  insensibility  to  pain  in  his 
dental  operations.  I  inquired  of  him  whether  this  would  not  injure  the 
lungs.  He  rejDlIed  that  he  had  tried  it  himself,  and  administered  it 
witliout  experiencing  any  ill  effects,  and  that  Dr.  Jackson  said  that  it  was 
not  injurious. 

"After  suggesting  various  forms  for  an  inhaler,  Ave  decided  upon  a 
tubulated  globe-receiver,  into  which  he  proposed  to  put  a  piece  of  sponge, 
to  be  kept  saturated  with  ether,  and  have  the  oj)ening  through  which  the 
retort  usually  enters  placed  over  the  moutli,  and  the  air  admitted  through 
the  tnbulnre,  or  hole  for  the  stopper.  I  advised  him  to  try  this,  and,  if  it 
answered  the  purpose,  to  have  an  appropriate  vessel  made.  He  then  left 
me,  and  I  did  not  see  him  again,  until  one  afternoon  he  called  upon  me 
in  great  haste,  and  begged  me  to  assist  him  to  prepare  an  apparatus  with 
which  he  could  administer  the  ether  to  a  patient  at  the  Hospital  the  next 


HOSPITAL    REPORT.  251 

(lay,  as  Dr.  Warren  had  consented  to  use  it  in  an  operation.  He  ap- 
peared much  excited  ;  and  although,  from  a  pressui'e  of  other  engage- 
ments, it  was  very  inconvenient  for  me,  yet  I  consented  to  arrange  a 
temporary  apparatus  under  these  circumstances.  This  apparatus  was 
composed  of  a  quart  tubulated  globe-receiver,  having  a  cork  fitted  into 
it  instead  of  a  glass  stopper,  through  which  cork  a  pipette  or  dropping 
tube  was  inserted  to  supply  the  ether  as  it  was  evaporated.  I  then  cut 
several  large  grooves  around  the  cork  to  admit  the  air  freely  into  the  globe 
to  mix  ivith  tJie  vapor,  and  delivered  it  to  Dr.  Morton. 

"  From  this  time  I  have  had  but  one  interview  with  Dr.  Morton,  and  I 
regret  that  I  am  unable  to  furnish  specific  dates  for  these  transactions  ; 
but,  from  the  variety  of  articles  tried  and  retui-ned  by  Dr.  Moiton,  and 
the  trifling  value  of  those  taken  by  him  at  different  times,  I  made  no 
charges  to  him  in  my  books.  I  am  therefore  indebted  to  other  circum- 
stances for  the  date  of  these  occurrences,  one  of  which  is  that  I  returned 
to  Boston  from  the  country  with  my  family  on  the  28th  Sept.  18iG;  a 
fact  which  appears  from  an  actual  entry  in  my  books.  In  the  cars  I  met 
Dr.  Morton  ;  and,  from  my  recollection  of  the  circumstances  at  that  time, 
1  am  satisfied  that  the  conversation  about  the  effect  of  sulphuric  ether 
upon  the  gas  bags  was  previous  to  that  time.  My  attention  was  called 
to  the  date  and  circumstances  of  this  interview  in  the  winter  of  1846-7, 
and  I  then  satisfied  myself  upon  the  matter. 

"  On  the  appearance  of  the  article  signed  '  E.  W.'  in  the  Daily  Adver- 
tiser of  March  5,  1847,  in  Avhich  some  allusion  was  made  to  me,  Dr. 
Jackson  and  Mr.  Peabody  called  upon  me  in  reference  to  my  knowledge 
of  the  dates  of  Dr.  Morton's  interviews  with  me.  I  explained  the  mat- 
ter to  them  at  that  time ;  and  although  we  differed  in  opinion  as  to  the 
date  of  Dr,  Morton's _^rs^  application  to  me,  yet  I  am  happy  to  state  that 
Dr.  Jackson  has  since  admitted  to  me,  that  my  view  of  the  dates  of  the 
transactions  was  substantially  correct,  adding  that  he  could  substantiate 
his  discovery  as  far  back  as  1 842.  —  Yours  respectfully, 

"Joseph  M.  Wightman." 

The  Committee  make  the  following  remarks  on  this 
letter  :  —  The  date  of  Mr.  Wiyhtman's  comins:  to  Boston 
is  fixed  beyond  all  doubt.  Tlie  circumstances  connected 
with  this  occasion  have  been  verbally  stated  to  the  Com- 
mittee, and  are  of  a  nature,  rendering,  in  their  judgment,  a 
mistake  impossible.     This  letter,  then,  proves  that,  prior  to 


252  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

Sept.  28,  1846,  or  more  than  two  darjs  before  h'ts  intervkio 
with  Dr.  Jackson,  Dr.  3Iorton  called  on  Mr.  Wightman, 
alluded  to  some  intended  discovery  of  great  importance,  and 
inquired  about  bags,  statable  for  holding  sulphuric  ether. 
And  it  would  seem  probable,  that  it  was  Giving  only  to  a 
caswd  suggestion  then  made,  that  Dr.  Jaclison,  rather  than 
some  other  learned  chemist,  was  subsequently  considted  by 
Dr.  Morton. 

The  letter  also  proves,  that  Dr.  Jackson  had  heard  from 
Mr.  Wightman  (as  well  as  from  Mr.  Metcalf,  see  p.  228) 
facts  which  it  seems  difficult  to  reconcile  with  his  (Dr. 
Jackson's)  conviction,  expressed  so  strongly  to  the  Com- 
mittee, that  Dr.  Morton  icas  wholly  ignorant  of  sulphuric 
ether,  down  to  the  interview  with  him.  Dr.  Jackson,  and 
his  friend  j\Ir.  Peabody,  seem,  indeed,  to  have  been  aware 
of  the  important  bearing  of  Mr.  Wightman's  testimony  on 
this  point.  Therefore  in  March,  1847,  they  endeavored 
strenuously,  but  in  vain,  to  satisfy  him  that  he  was  mis- 
taken as  to  the  date  of  his  first  interview  with  Dr.  jSIorton, 
about  the  gas  bags.  It  would  seem  that  Dr.  Jackson  had  not 
yet  resorted  to  the  hypothesis,  that  he  had  made  his  discovery 
in  1842;  since  that,  of  course,  rendered  all  these  transactions 
icith  Dr.  Morton  of  no  consequence.  Accordingly,  in  his 
later  interview  with  Mr.  Wightman,  Dr.  Jackson  said,  in 
effect,  "  You  may  be  about  right  in  your  dates  ;  but  it  is 
immaterial  to  me,  as  I  can  substantiate  my  discovery  as  far 
back  as  1842."  Unfortunately,  Dr.  Jackson,  in  the  specifi- 
cation accompanying  the  patent,  had,  under  oath,  disavowed 
any  discovery  prior  to  that  which  he  made  jointly  with  Dr. 
Morton;  and  the  Committee  have  proved,  that  what  Dr. 
Jackson  knew  about  ether  in  1842  had  been  ptublished  by 
Pereira  in  1839. 


VINDICATION    OF    HOSPITAL    REPORT.  253 


II.    VINDICATION  OF  THE  HOSPITAL  REPOUT. 

BY   N.    I.    BOWDITCH. 

In  the  month  of  Api'il  last,  a  card  of  Dr.  Charles  T.  Jack- 
son appeared  in  various  newspapers  of  the  city  of  Boston, 
cautioning  "  the  friends  of  science  and  humanity  "  against 
a  combination  of  interested  persons,  and  proposing  to 
expose  the  falsehoods  in  the  Report  of  the  Trustees  of  the 
Massachusetts  General  Hospital,  presented  to  the  Corpo- 
ration, Jan.  26,  1848.  "A  Defence  of  Dr.  Jackson's 
Claims  to  the  Discovery  of  Etherization,"  by  his  attorneys 
the  Messrs.  Lord,  was  published  a  few  weeks  afterwards. 
Prepared  with  this  deliberation,  and  heralded  with  this  so- 
lemnity, it  doubtless  presents  all  the  important  points  upon 
which  Dr.  Jackson  relies.  The  notice  which  the  writers 
take  of  me  is  somewhat  personal.  The  other  Trustees  of 
the  Hospital  are  declared  not  to  be  "  held  responsible  for 
the  truth  of  my  statements,  the  legitimacy  of  my  inferences, 
or  the  justness  of  my  conclusions."  Without  recognizing 
any  such  exclusive  responsibility,  I  am  perfectly  ready  to 
meet  its  consequences.  Having  engaged  in  this  investi- 
gation only  from  the  wish  that  truth  and  justice  might 
prevail,  I  am  induced  by  the  same  motive  to  ask  the  atten- 
tion of  the  public  to  a  brief  vindication  of  the  Hospital 
Report.  I  feel  it  unnecessary,  before  this  community,  to 
defend  either  my  motives  or  my  conduct  from  the  charges 
made  or  insinuated  by  the  Messrs.  Lord. 

It  will  be  remembered,  that  the  Hospital  Report  alleges 
that  Dr.  Morton,  previous  to  his  interview  with  Dr.  Jackson 
(Sept.  30,  1846),  had  bought  sulphuric  ether,  and  conversed 
about  its  qualities,   especially  its   effects  when  inhaled,  as  a 


254:  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

substitute  for  nitrous  oxide,  for  the  prevention  of  pain  in 
dental  operations,  &c.  :  in  otlier  words,  that  Dr.  Morton  was 
seeking  for  this  discovery  by  means  of  this  agent,  and  did 
7iot  set  the  first  idea  of  usino;  it  from  Dr.  Jackson.  These 
positions  are,  it  is  believed,  fully  established  by  the  state- 
ments of  Mr.  Metcalf  and  Mr.  Wightnian.  The  Messrs. 
Lord  are  obviously  aware,  that  it  is  absolutely  necessary 
for  them  to  do  away  with  those  statements.  This  they 
attempt,  in  the  case  of  Mr.  Metcalf,  by  declaring  that  they 
understand  that  he  (Mr.  Metcalf)  will  not  be  w^illing  to 
swear  that  it  was  snlphiiric  ether  which  he  saw  Dr.  Morton 
buying, — that  he  merely  thinks  the  vial  was  so  labelled, — 
that  he  probably  would  not  swear  that  Dr.  Morton  did 
really  purchase  said  vial  of  ether,  &c.  Now,  will  it  be 
believed,  that  the  Messrs.  Lord  have  never  asked  a  question 
of  Mr.  Metcalf  upon  the  subject ;  and  that,  on  the  contrary, 
Dr.  Jackson  himself  knew  from  Mr.  Metcalf's  own  lips,  that 
he  was  entirely  certain  it  was  sulphuric  ether?  What  is 
this,  on  the  part  either  of  Dr.  Jackson  or  his  attorneys,  but 
an  absolute  perversion  of  truth?  I  subjoin  a  note  of  Mr. 
Metcalf  upon  this  subject :  — 

"  Boston,  June  4,  1848. 
"  Dear  Sir,  — The  writers  of  the  reply  to  the  Report  of  the  Trustees 
of  Massachusetts  Hospital  have  never  been  informed  by  me,  that  I  was 
not  ready  to  swear  that  the  vial  in  Mr.  Morton's  possession,  early  in  the 
summer  of  1846,  contained  sulphuric  etiier.  Neither  can  I  believe,  that 
they  have  been  so  informed  by  Dr.  Jackson ;  for,  on  the  evening  of 
the  day  after  the  date  of  my  letter  to  you,  I  called  at  Dr.  Jackson's  office, 
and  informed  him  of  its  purport.  He  expressed  surprise  that  1  was  able 
to  fix  a  purchase  of  sulphuric  ether  by  Mr.  Morton  of  so  early  a  date, 
and  asked  if  I  was  sure  that  it  was  sulplturic,  and  not  chloric,  ether  in  the 
vial.  /  told  him  that  I  Icnew  it  to  be  sulphuric  ether,  because,  while  con- 
versing with  Mr.  Morton,  I  had  uncorked  the  vial,  and  smelt  it.* 

*  Besides  the  interview  liere  described,  Mr.  Metcalf  previously  spoke  to 


VINDICATION    OF    HOSPITAL    REPORT.  255 

"That  the  vial  contained  sulplmric  ether,  —  that  I  made  the  above 
statement  to  Dr.  Jackson,  —  and  that  Mr.  Morton  purchased  the  ether, 
as  I  have  stated  in  my  note  published  in  the  Hospital  Report,  /  am  ready 
to  swear.  Yours  respectfully, 

"  Theodoue  Metcalf. 
"  N.  I.  Bowditch,  Esq." 

Now  as  to  Mr.  Wio;htman's  letter.  The  "  Defence " 
speaks  of  its  vagueness  and  uncertainty,  and  suggests  many- 
ingenious  and  elaborate  theories  to  prove  that  Dr.  Moi'- 
ton's  intervievv  with  Mr.  Wightnian  was  after,  not  before, 
his  interview  with  Dr.  Jackson.  Whatever  uncertainty, 
however,  there  may  be  as  to  the  exact  time  when  Mr. 
Wightman  first  became  acquainted  with  Dr.  Morton,  the 
date  of  the  particular  interview  with  him,  which  is  impor- 
tant in  this  case,  is  fixed  so  securely  that  it  is  hardly 
possible  for  any  thing  to  be  more  definitely  established  by 
human  testimony.  Mr.  Wightman  came  to  Boston  with 
his  family,  Sept.  28,  1846,  or  two  days  before  the  interview 
between  Dr.  Jackson  and  Dr.  Morton.  This  date  is  fixed 
by  an  actual  entry  in  his  books,  and  subsequent  entries  of 
articles  sold  Sept.  29,  <fec.  When  coming  to  Boston  in  the 
cars,  he  met  Dr.  Morton.  I  have  obtained  from  Mr.  Wight- 
man  a  supplementary  note,  stating  the  circumstances  which 
then  occurred.  These  are  of  such  a  nature  as  to  make  it 
impossible  for  him  to  be  mistaken  in  the  fact  that  it  was 
before  this  time  Dr.  Morton  had  consulted  him  about  bags 
of  India-rubber  cloth  for  holding  sulphuric  ether,  and  on 
which  previous  occasion  he  had  advised  Dr.  Morton  to  call 
on  Dr.  Charles  T.  Jackson,  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining 
more  definite  and  certain  information  as  to  sulphuric  ether 

Dr.  Jackson  of  tlie  fact,  that,  before  he  went,  to  Europe,  he  had  seen  Dr.  Mor- 
ton buying  sulphuric  ether,  &c.  —  a  fact  commented  upon  in  the  Hospital 
Report. 


256  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

than    he    himself   could    "ive    him.      The    followinof  is   Mr. 
Wightman's  note  :  — 

"  N.  I.  Bowditch,  Esq.  "  Boston,  June  lo,  1848. 

"  Dear  Sir,  —  In  reply  to  your  note  asking  for  a  written  account  of  tlie 
circumstances  which  I  mentioned  to  you  verbally,  as  alluded  to  in  my 
letter  of  Feb.  10,  I  would  state  as  follows  :  — 

"  It  appears  by  my  books  of  account  and  entries  of  cash  made  on 
those  days,  that  on  Aug.  1,  1846, 1  went  to  Dover  with  my  family,  and  that 
on  Sept.  28,  1846, 1  returned  with  my  family  to  Boston ;  there  being  also 
in  my  account-books,  for  the  month  of  September,  separate  subsequent 
entries  under  dates  of  Sept.  29  and  80.  I  distinctly  recollect,  that,  on 
several  different  occasions  within  that  period,  I  met  and  conversed  with 
Dr.  Morton  in  the  cars  ;  and  these  must  have  been  separated  by  intervals 
of  at  least  one  week,  as  I  only  went  to  Dover  on  Saturdays,  returning  on 
Monday  mornings.  We  went  up  together  in  the  five-o'clock  trains,  and 
I  always  returned  in  the  first  train ;  and  it  was  only  by  reason  of  my  tak- 
ing a  later  train,  when  I  brought  my  family  back  to  Boston,  that  I  met 
Dr.  Morton.  On  this  occasion.  Sept.  28,  1846,  he  had  a  bouquet  in  his 
hand.  I  was  sitting  by  his  side.  He  asked  me  if  the  lady  near  me  was  Mrs. 
Wightman  :  I  replied,  '  Yes.'  He  said,  *  Will  she  accept  these  flowers  ?  ' 
I  assented,  and  thereupon  introduced  him  to  my  wife.  She  asked  me  in 
a  low  voice  who  Dr.  JMorton  was.  I  told  her  he  was  a  dentist,  who  was 
making  experiments  about  extracting  teeth  without  pain.  Mrs.  Wight- 
man  recollects  distinctly,  that  in  conversation  I  observed  to  her,  '  Dr. 
Morton  thinks  that  I  do  not  know  what  he  means  to  use  for  this  purpose ; 
but  I  do.'  From  all  the.  circumstances  in  the  case,  I  have  not  the  least 
doubt  in  my  mind  that  the  agent  he  intended  to  use  for  that  purjjose  was 
siilphniic  ether.  This  I  infer  tVom  his  inquiries  as  to  the  effect  of  sul- 
phuric ether  in  dissolving  India-rubber  bags,  &c.,  as  alluded  to  in  my 
former  letter.     From  that  time  I  have  never  met  Dr.  iSIorton  in  the  cars. 

"  There  is  one  other  circumstance,  affording  internal  evidence,  that 
makes  me  entirely  certain  that  Dr.  Morton  really  called  upon  Dr.  Jack- 
son pursuant  to  my  suggestion.  It  is  this  :  Dr.  Morton  and  I  had  talked 
of  mesmerism,  and  he  asked  me  if  I  believed  in  it.  I  told  him  no ;  that 
much  of  its  effects  was  probably  nervous,  and  much  the  result  of  imagina- 
tion. I  then  proceeded  to  relate  to  him  myself  the  very  anecdote  which 
it  is  proved,  both  by  Barnes  and  M'Intyre,  that  he  (Morton)  related  to 
Dr.  Jackson,  viz.  that  of  a  criminal  upon  whom  certain  French  surgeons 


VINDICATION    OF    HOSPITAL    REPORT.  2oT 

tried  the  experiment  of  merely  pricking  his  arm  while  he  was  blind- 
folded, and  letting  warm  water  trickle  down  from  his  arm  into  a  bowl ; 
the  result  being,  as  I  informed  Dr,  Morton,  that  his  pulse  became  more 
and  more  feeble ;  and  when  the  surgeons  thought  that  the  experiment 
had  been  carried  as  far  as  was  safe,  the  bandage  was  removed,  when,  to 
their  great  surprise  and  alarm,  they  found  that  they  could  not  revive  him, 
and  he  actually  died  from  the  elFect  of  imagination. 

"  Yours  respectfully, 

"  JuSKPII    ]\I.   WlGHTMAX." 

Further,  the  "  Defence  "  admits,  tliat  Mr.  Wightman  and 
Dr.  Morton  had  an  interview,  and  loithin  a  very  few  days, 
either  before  or  afler  the  interview  with  Jackson.  Now, 
throwing  out  of  the  case  all  circumstances  by  which  Mr. 
Wightnian  is  enabled  to  fix  the  date  to  be  before  the  inter- 
view with  Jackson,  what  is  the  otlier  evidence  in  the  case? 
On  the  one  supposition,  all  is  very  natural.  Dr.  Morton 
calls  on  Mr.  Wightman,  and  asks  about  India-rubber  bags 
for  holding  sulphuric  ether.  He  tells  him  to  call  on  Dr. 
Jachson  for  more  definite  information.  Dr.  Morton  calls 
accordingly.  At  this  interview  we  find  him  "having  in  his 
hand  an  Indla-rabber  bag  belonging  to  Dr.  Jackson  ;  "  and 
a  conversation  commences.  The  subject  of  nitrous  oxide  is 
introduced.  At  a  former  interview  with  Mr.  Metcalf,  this 
same  subject  had  led  to  a  conversation  about  using  sulphu- 
ric ether  for  inhalation,  instead  of  nitrous  oxide;  and  the 
same  result  follows  on  this  occasion. 

On  the  -hypothesis  that  the  interview  with  Mr.  Wight- 
man  was  after  that  with  Jackson,  two  obvious  questions 
arise.  If  Dr.  Morton  had  already  received  such  definite 
and  particular  instructions  from  Dr.  Jackson  as  to  the  use 
of  ether,  and  how  to  apply  it,  and  had  actually  performed 
his  first  experiments,  why  should  he  call  on  Mr.  Wightman 
at  all,  and  ask  about  India-rubber  bags,   and  whether  ether 


258  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

would  dissolve  them?  AVhy  not  take  Dr.  Jackson's  opinion 
on  this  point;  and,  when  jNIr.  Wightman  tells  him  to  go 
to  Dr.  Jackson  for  definite  information,  what  possible  mo- 
tive could  he  have  had  for  not  replying,  "I  have  been  to  see 
him  a  very  few  days  ago,  and  he  has  told  me  all  about  sul- 
phuric ether"?  No,  this  internal  evidence,  of  itself,  would 
be  enough  to  settle  the  question  of  priority  as  to  these  inter- 
views. 

It  is,  then,  a  fact  for  ever  established,  that  Dr.  Morton's 
conversations  with  Mr.  Metcalf  and  Mr.  Wightman  were 
before  his  visit  to  Dr.  Jackson.  Of  course  it  follows,  that 
when,  at  this  interview,  he  asked  if  ether  were  a  gas,  and 
said,  "What  queer-smelling  stuftM "  *  he  was  designedly 
concealing  what  he  knew.  And  what  motive  could  he 
have  had  for  such  concealment,  except  that  subsequently 
assigned  by  himself,  viz.  that  he  was  seeking  for  this  dis- 
covery, and  was  fearful  that,  if  he  made  any  direct  inquiries 
of  him,  Dr.  Jackson  would  claim  it  as  his  own?* 

Now,  suppose  that  all  four  of  Dr.  Morton's  witnesses, 
Spear,  Leavitt,  Hay  den,  and  AVhitman,  are  perjured;  that 
no  demijohn  of  ether  was  purchased  ;  that  no  experiments 
were  tried  from  the  contents  of  such  demijohn  ;  still  these 
two  statements  of  Mr.  Metcalf  and  Mr.  Wightman  prove, 
as  I  conceive,  beyond  a  possibility  of  doubt,  that  Dr.  Morton 
was  seeking  for  this  discovery  before  Sept.  30,  1846;  and 
that  he  was  not  indebted  to  Dr.  Jackson  for  the  first  idea  of 
using  sulphuric  ether,  as  claimed  by  Dr.  Jackson  and  his 
friends.  JNIr.  Wightman,  indeed,  as  he  expressly  states, 
feels  certain  that  it  was  only  in  consequence  of  his  casual 

*  It  has  been  stated  in  the  Hospital  Report,  that  the  facts  proved  by  Mr. 
Metcalf  make  it  certain  tliat  the  degree  of  ignorance  expressed  by  Dr.  Mor- 
ton, in  his  interview  with  Dr.  Jackson,  was  assumed.  Yet  the  "  Defience  " 
SJiys  upon  this  point,  "  We  have  to  depend  on  Mr.  Morton's  word  alone." 


YINDICATION    OF    HOSPITAL    REPORT.  259 

suggestion  that  Dr.  Jackson  was  consulted  at  all  in  the 
case.  The  facts  proved  by  these  two  statements  utterly 
overthrow  Dr.  Jackson's  exclusive  pretensions.*  The  con- 
current testimony  of  the  other  four  witnesses  is  merely 
cumulative.  It  may  be  wholly  rejected,  without  affecting 
one  of  the  conclusions  arrived  at  in  the  Hospital  Report. 
Thi-ee  of  these  witnesses  are  living,  and  can  take  such  steps 
as  they  consider  necessary  for  the  vindication  of  their  clmr- 
acters  ;  but  the  late  Francis  Whitman,  one  of  these  wit- 
nesses, is  spoken  of  by  many  who  knew  him  well,  in  high 
terms,  as  a  man  of  truth  and  honor.  Even  Dr.  Gay,  then 
not  pretending  to  doubt  the  existence  of  the  demijohn, 
said  to  me  that  Whitman  was  too  honest  to  allow  that  it 
contained  sulphuric  ether,  and  therefore  in  his  deposition 
states  it  contained  chloric  ether.  That  such  a  man  would 
lend  himself  to  this  base  conspiracy  to  injure  Dr.  Jackson, 
I,  for  one,  entirely  disbelieve ;  and  yet,  if  his  testimony  is  to 
be  credited,  it  establishes  a  secret  purchase  of  some  sort  of 
ether.  The  "  Defence "  itself  introduces  no  evidence  to 
impeach  this  witness,  except  the  allegation,  that  all  the 
witnesses,  after  giving  their  depositions,  began  to  talk  of 
matters  respecting  which  they  had  been  before  silent.  I 
designedly  abstain  from  any  comments  upon  the  testimony 
by  which  Dr.  Jackson  endeavors  to  impeach  the  credibility 
of  these  four  witnesses,  as  I  think  the  whole  matter  compar- 
atively irrelevant  and  unimportant.  I  will,  however,  make 
one  or  two  suggestions.  Mr.  Brewer's  affidavit  is  merely 
that  his  firm  sold  ether  of  a  certain  quality,  and  never 
such  as  that  in  the  demijohn.  Now,  such  is  the  volatile 
nature  of  ether,  that,  if  the  vial  containing  it  be  left  open  or 
insecurely  closed,  its  whole  spirit  will  evaporate.     A  physi- 

*  Indeed,  Mr.  Metcalf  s  leUei-  alone  is  of  itself  sufficient  to  do  so. 


260  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

cian  of  high  scientific  attainments,  and  a  member  of  the 
Academy,  informs  me  tliat,  hist  year,  he  ordered  a  vial  of 
ether  at  an  apothecary's,  and,  on  opening  it,  perceived  that 
it  had  no  smell  of  ether,  and,  calling  the  apothecary's  atten- 
tion to  its  worthless  character,  asked  an  explanation.  The 
reply  was,  "  I  don't  understand  this.  It  was  some  of  Stevens 
and  Breioer^s  best."  It  was  probably  at  first  a  good  article  ; 
and,  like  it,  the  contents  of  the  demijohn  had  deteriorated, 
from  the  same  or  some  other  cause.  This  explanation  dis- 
poses of  that  one  of  Dr.  jNIorton's  alleged  "lies"  which  is 
founded  on  this  aflfidavit.  Indeed,  some  half-dozen  of  these 
"  lies  "  relate  to  this  demijohn  and  its  contents. 

Some  most  puerile  remarks  are  made  upon  tlie  discrep- 
ancies in  the  testimony.  Thus  Leavitt  says,  that  he  was 
sent  to  Dr.  Gay,  but  could  not  find  his  residence;  while 
another  witness  sweai's  that  Leavitt  came  back  and  said  Dr. 
Gay  was  not  in.  Do  not  the  Messrs.  Lord,  as  "  counsellors- 
at-law,"  know  that  these  slight  discrepancies  are  really 
satisfactory  as  proving  a  want  of  concert  among  the  wit- 
nesses? Similar  discrepancies  are  actually  adduced  by 
commentators  as  evidence  of  the  Genuineness  even  of  the 
Gospels. 

Again,  there  has  always  been  a  system  of  concealment 
and  secrecy  on  the  part  of  Dr.  Morton,  manifest  throughout 
all  the  testimony,  and  expressly  recognized  in  the  Report. 
This  very  ether  is  sworn  to  have  been  bought  in  the  name 
of  a  fictitious  purchaser,  as  if  to  be  sent  into  the  country. 
Whitman's  testimony  also  seems  to  imply,  that  this  system 
extended  to  the  demijohn  and  its  contents.  Thus  he  says, 
"  I  told  Dr.  Morton  I  knew  what  it  was  that  William  had 
bought,  and  said  it  was  chloric  of  ether."  This  system  of 
concealment  explains  the  fact,  that  many  of  those  employed 
in  Dr.  Morton's  oflfice  may  never  have  happened  to  see  the 


VINDICATION    OF    HOSPITAL    REPORT.  261 

demijohn.  But  one  credible  witness,  wlio  swears  positively 
to  its  existence,  is  to  be  believed,  though  twenty  others 
equally  credible  swear  that  they  never  saw  it.  Further, 
this  system  of  concealment  may  explain  the  silence  of  the 
four  witnesses,  prior  to  the  giving  of  their  depositions ; 
since,  of  course,  all  injunctions  of  secrecy  would  then  be 
removed.  It  is  obvious,  that  a  controversy  may  be  carried 
on  interminably  by  ex-parte  affidavits  made  without  any 
cross-examinations ;  each  set  of  witnesses  impeaching  the 
characters  of  those  on  the  opposite  side,  and  the  public 
having  no  means  of  judging  of  the  degree  of  credit  to  be 
given  to  either.  It  may  be  remarked,  that  Dr.  Morton  has 
always  been  willing  to  leave  the  question  to  reference, 
when  perjury  on  either  side  would  be  sifted  by  the  cross- 
examination  of  intelligent  referees.  But  I  repeat,  that  the 
vindication  of  the  Hospital  Report  requires  no  such  pro- 
longed discussions.  No  one  impugns  the  inteo-rity  or 
doubts  the  intelligence  of  Mr.  Metcalf  or  Mr.  Wightman. 
Both  are  free  from  the  slightest  bias  or  interest ;  and  their 
statements  form  the  all-sufficient  basis  upon  which  rest 
these  positions  of  the  Hospital  Report. 

The  "  Defence "  contains  a  mass  of  testiiiiony  to  the 
effect  that  Dr.  jNIorton  habitually  admitted  that  it  was  Dr. 
Jackson's  discovery,  and  not  his.  But  it  is  expressly  stated 
in  the  "  Defence,"  that  Dr.  Morton  sought  to  obtain  a  patent 
without  Dr.  Jackson's  previous  knowledge  or  permission ; 
thus  publicly  claiming  before  all  the  world,  that,  in  perform- 
ing the  first  experiment,  he  had  acted  for  himself,  not  as  the 
agent  of  Dr.  Jackson.  So,  likewise,  printed  circulars  were 
published  in  the  newspapers,  and  distributed  as  handbills, 
in  which  Dr.  Morton  most  positively  and  emphatically 
claimed  this  discovery  as  his  own.  These  are  still  extant. 
One    of  them  has  been   submitted  to  me.     Dr.   Morton,  of 


262  ■         ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

course,  always  admitted  his  obligations  to  Dr.  Jackson.  I 
have  no  doubt,  that  he  did  most  fully  and  openly  declare, 
on  many  occasions,  the  truth,  — namely,  that  Dr.  Jackson 
told  him  to  try  this  new  agent,  and  pronounced  it  to  be 
safe, — that  it  was  by  his  express  advice  and  sanction  that 
he  performed  his  first  experiment  of  pulling  out  a  tooth. 
But,  whatever  may  have  been  his  language  on  these  occa- 
sions, it  cannot  alter  the  facts  proved  by  INIr.  Metcalf  and 
Mr.  Wightman,  namely,  that,  before  he  saw  Dr.  Jackson, 
he  was  himself  seeking  to  learn  the  properties  of  this  agent, 
for  the  purpose  of  realizing  this  discovery.  Dr.  Morton  had 
an  obvious  and  very  powerful  pecuniary  motive  for  thus 
uniformly  declaring  and  setting  forth  Dr.  Jackson's  claims 
as  the  discoverer,  viz.  that  of  getting  the  discovery  more 
generally  introduced  than  it  could  be  otherwise.  Indeed  it 
is  stated  expressly  in  Mr.  Eddy's  testimony,  that  he  advised 
Dr.  Morton  to  admit  Dr.  Jackson  as  a  joint  patentee,  be- 
cause he  thought  "that  his  association  with  Dr.  Morton 
would  give  immediate  character  to  the  discovery."  After 
the  joint  patent  Avas  taken  out,  and  when  no  dispute  could 
therefore  be  anticipated,  and  Dr.  Morton's  object  was 
merely  to  sell  his  rights  as  extensively  as  possible,  he  did 
doubtless  put  Dr.  Jackson  prominently  forward,  and  award 
to  him  in  the  fullest  terms  the  credit  of  having  made  the 
immediate  scientific  suggestion  which  led  him  to  try  the  first 
expei'iment.  It  is  somewhat  amusing  to  find  Dr.  Jackson 
insisting  that  these  verbal  declarations  of  Dr.  Morton  shall 
debar  him  from  proving  the  previous  steps  which  he  had 
taken  towards  this  discovery,  and  for  ever  oblige  him  to 
admit  as  true,  what  certainly  is  not  true,  that  he  got  the  idea 
of  using  sulphuric  ether  for  this  purpose,  for  the  first  time, 
from  Dr.  Jackson  ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  statements 
of  Dr.   Jackson,  actually  written,  signed,  and  siaorn  to   (in 


VINDICATION    OF    HOSPITAL    REPORT.  263 

the  specification  accompanying  the  patent) ,  to  the  effect  that 
the  discovery  was  a  joint  one,  —  that  no  human  being  ever 
discovered  this  power  of  ether  before  this  joint  discovery,  &c. 
—  are  quietly  set  aside  by  him  as  the  mere  formal  "  wording 
of  an  official  paper." 

If  the  claim  to  this  scientific  discovery  is  to  be  decided  by 
the  application  of  the  technical  doctrines  of  estoppel,  those 
rules  certainly  ought  in  fairness  to  be  applied  to  both  parties. 

The  "Defence"  next  insists  upon  Dr.  Jackson's  having 
been  induced  to  become  a  party  to  the  patent  "  for  the  single 
purpose  of  securing  the  credit  of  the  discovery."  This  uni- 
form disinterestedness  is  aoain  alleged.  The  "Defence" 
says,  "  That  he  did  not  wish  to  make  any  thing  out  of  the 
public  is  sufficiently  proved  by,"  &c.  The  reader,  however, 
will  remember  that  the  letter  of  Dr.  Jackson's  leiral  advisers, 
published  in  the  Hospital  Report,  demanding  an  increased 
share  of  the  profits,  speaks  of  the  [)atent  as  one  "  tvhich,  if 
sustained,  promises  to  give  to  all  parties  large  sums  of 
money  for  their  united  co-operation.^'' 

Again,  it  is  most  positively  stated  in  the  "Defence,"  that 
there  is  no  pretence  that  Dr.  Morton  ever  made  a  gratuitous 
offer  of  any  sort  to  the  army  and  navy  of  the  United  States, 
as  declared  in  the  Report ;  he  having  really  only  offered  to 
sell  his  discovery  to  the  Government.  But,  in  fact,  subse- 
quently to  the  offer  to  sell  to  Congress,  letters  loere  addressed 
by  his  agent  to  those  two  departments,  offering  its  use  forth- 
with, on  account  of  the  existing  war  with  Mexico. 

Tiie  "  Defence "  claims  for  Dr.  Jackson  the  honor  of 
introducing  this  discovery  into  the  Hospital.  It  is  abun- 
dantly proved  by  the  Report,  that  the  first  capital  operation, 
and  two  others  preceding  it  of  a  less  serious  character,  were 
performed  by  surgeons  who  knew  only  Dr.  Morton ;  Dr. 
Jackson's  name  not  havins^  been  mentioned  to  them  at  all. 


264  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

Dr.  Jackson,  however,  attempts  to  connect  liimself  with 
these  first  operations  by  evidence  that  he  told  Dr.  Morton  to 
call  on  Dr.  Warren.  The  idea  of  generalizhig  and  extend- 
ing the  discovery  was,  of  course,  perfectly  obvious ;  and 
(even  if  we  disbelieve  the  testimony  of  Dr.  Hayden,  that 
Dr.  Morton  had  already  decided  to  go  to  the  Hospital)  Dr. 
Jackson  can  hardly  claim  much  merely  from  such  a  sugges- 
tion. The  reluctance  testified  to,  as  manifested  by  Dr.  Mor- 
ton to  Dr.  Jackson  with  regard  to  going  to  the  Plospital,  I 
suppose  indeed  to  have  been  part  of  his  system  of  conceal- 
ment. It  was  a  reluctance  to  go  there  as  the  agent  of 
another.  He  was  unwilling  probably  to  accede  to  this  sug- 
gestion, lest  he  should  be  deprived  by  Dr.  Jackson  of  all 
credit  which  might  result  from  taking  this  step.  But  what 
is  Dr.  Jackson's  actual  relation  to  the  Hospital  in  this  mat- 
ter ?      Pie  sends  to  the  surgeons  of  this  institution  an  aoent 

CD  O 

whom  he  avowedly  regards  as  ignorant  and  reckless.  He 
does  not  trouble  himself  to  call  personally  upon  any  one  of 
these  surgeons  to  give  them  a  word  of  caution  or  advice, 
though  all  six  of  them  live  within  five  minutes'  walk  of  his 
house.*  For  many  successive  weeks,  he  does  not  go  once  to 
the  Hospital  to  see  these  operations,  though  absent  from  the 
city  only  during  a  brief  period  as  stated  in  the  Report. 
And,  when  at  last  he  concludes  to  do  so,  Mr,  Burnett  sees 
him  at  his  office,  and  is  informed  by  iiim  that  he  is  going  to 
take  a  bag  of  oxygen  to  the  Hospital,  as  he  thinks  Morton 
will  probably  kill  somebody  yet  with  the  ether,  before  he  has 
done.  All  this,  surely,  is  a  singular  mode  of  manifesting  his 
interest  in,  and  pi-^moting  the  success  of,  these  Hospital 
Oj)erations.  During  the  same  period,  Dr.  Morton  is  not  the 
reluctant  agent  uf  anc^ther.      He  acts  for  himself.      While,  on 

*  A  casual  interview  with  Dr.  Warren,  ajhr  the  two  first  operations, 
forms  no  exception  to  the  trutli  of  this  remark. 


VINDICATION    OF    HOSPITAL    REPORT.  265 

the  one  hand,  it  would  be  difficult  to  exaggerate  the  degree  of 
indifference  shown  by  Dr.  Jackson  during  the  whole  series 
of  these  early  experiments,  it  would,  on  the  other,  be  equally 
difficult  to  do  more  than  justice  to  the  earnest  and  indefati- 
gable efforts  of  Dr.  Morton.  One  of  the  surgeons  of  the 
Hospital  says  that  he  absolutely  haunted  them. 

Dr.  Jackson,  upon  this  state  of  facts,  and  in  compliance 
with  alleged  applications  from  numerous  quarters,  concludes 
to  give  to  the  world  a  true  narrative  of  this  great  discovery, 
and  of  the  circumstances  attending  its  introduction.  This  he 
does  in  the  form  of  a  paper  addressed  to  the  American 
Academy,  and  published  in  the  Boston  Daily  Advertiser, 
March  1,  1847.  He  there  thinks  it  best  to  suppress  all  men- 
tion even  of  Dr.  Morton's  name  in  connection  with  the  Hos- 
pital. He  deliberately  claims  all  himself.  "  I  was  desirous 
of  testing  it  (the  ether)  in  a  capital  operation,"  &c.  "Dr. 
Warren  politely  consented  to  have  the  trial  made."  But 
mark  the  result.  At  the  meeting  of  the  Academy  on  the 
very  next  day.  Dr.  Jackson  learns  from  Dr.  Hay  ward  that 
he  performed  the  first  capital  operation  at  the  Hospital.  Dr. 
Jackson  forthwith  alters  his  text,  so  as  to  make  Dr.  Hay- 
ward  "politely  consent"  to  perform  that  very  operation.  In 
other  words.  Dr.  Jackson,  by  his  own  showing,  did  not 
know  till  March  2,  1847,  who  it  was  that  had  politely  con- 
sented, at  his  desire,  to  do  this  important  act  four  months 
before.  Dr.  Hayward  states,  that,  when  he  performed  this 
operation,  he  had  not  the  slightest  suspicion  that  Dr.  Jack- 
son had  any  thing  to  do  with  this  discovery.  Nor,  as  it 
appears,  had  Dr.  Jackson  the  slightest  suspicion  that  Dr. 
Hayward  had  any  thing  to  do  with  performing  the  operation. 
In  alleging  any  polite  consent  of  Dr.  Hayward,  under  these 
circumstances.  Dr.  Jackson  certainly  drew  largely  on  his 
imagination . 

81 


266  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

After  all,  then,  Dr.  Jackson  cannot,  it  would  seem,  com- 
plain of  Dr.  Morton's  conduct  in  this  instance.  If  Dr. 
Morton  suppressed  Dr.  Jackson's  name,  when,  pursuant  to 
his  advice,  he  asked  Dr.  Warren  to  perform  these  opera- 
tions, Dr.  Jackson  in  return  suppressed  his  in  his  true  and 
perfect  history  of  their  performance.  The  one,  it  may  be, 
wrongfully  appropriated"  a  suggestion;  the  other,  in  return, 
appropriates  its  verification. 

The  fundamental  proposition  of  the  Hospital  Report  is, 
that  "Dr.  Jackson  does  not  appear  at  any  time  to  have 
made  any  discovery,  in  regard  to  ether,  which  w^as  not  in 
print  in  Great  Britain  some  years  before."  Does  the 
"Defence"  adduce  any  additional  evidence  on  this  point? 
The  only  new  testimony  is  that  of  Mr.  Blake,  who  relates  a 
conversation,  in  the  spring  of  1842,  on  the  subject  of  nitrous 
oxide  and  sulphuric  ether,  when  Dr.  Jackson  said,  "Are  you 
aware  that,  when  inhaled,  it  (sulphuric  ether)  produces 
complete  insensibility?"  or  words  to  that  effect.  Is  it 
gravely  pretended,  that  this  question  implies  any  extraordi- 
nary knowledge  of  this  agent  on  the  part  of  Dr.  Jackson  ? 
Why,  twenty-five  years  before,  we  find  in  a  London  publi- 
cation ("  Journal  of  Science  and  Arts,"  1818)  an  article  upon 
the  eflfect  produced  by  the  inhalation  of  the  vapor  of  sul- 
phuric ether ;  where  it  is  expressly  stated,  that  its  effects 
resemble  very  much  those  of  nitrous  oxide.  The  best 
apparatus  or  mode  of  inhaling  it  is  exactly  described,  and 
the  necessity  of  an  admixture  of  atmospheric  air,  &c. 
shown,  as  in  Dr.  Jackson's  final  advice  to  Dr.  Morton  ;  and 
the  result,  in  one  case  mentioned,  is  declared  to  have  been 
the  production  of  a  lethargic  state,  which  was  regarded  as 
highly  dangerous. 

Dr.  Jackson  and  his  friends  (?)  wish  the  world  to  believe, 
that,  as  early   as    1842,  he   had  arrived  at  the    mature  and 


VINDICATION    OF    HOSPITAL   REPORT.  267 

well-considered  conclusion,  that  pure  rectified  sulphuric 
ether  could  be  Inhaled  with  safety  and  effect  for  preventing 
pain  in  all  surgical  operations.  The  utmost  of  the  evi- 
dence adduced  by  him  to  support  this  proposition  is,  that 
he  once  inhaled  this  ether  to  the  extent  of  producing  un- 
consciousness, •j^Ae^z  he  was  not  suffering  any  pain;  and 
once  more  to  the  like  extent,  when  suffering  from  the  effects 
of  chlorine  gas,  for  the  relief  of  which  it  was  the  prescribed 
remedy  in  the  text-books.  Now,  Davy  had  suggested  that 
the  nitrous  oxide,  by  producing  insensibility,  might  be  used 
for  the  prevention  of  pain  in  surgical  operations  attended 
with  little  effusion  of  blood  ;  and  the  writer  in  1818  had 
ascertained,  that  sulphuric  ether  produced  effects  analogous 
to  those  of  nitrous  oxide.  These  suggestions  and  facts 
were  before  the  world.  Dr.  Jackson,  from  his  own  limited 
experience  in  the  two  instances  above  stated,  seems  to  have 
formed  the  opinion,  that  pure  rectified  sulphuric  ether  could 
be  inhaled  with  safety,  to  the  extent  of  producing  insensi- 
bility ;  —  an  opinion  which  he  never  could  persuade  any 
one  else  to  entertain,  who  knew  the  opposite  authorities  on 
the  subject.  This  opmion  he  apparently  thought  of  little 
value.  He,  in  casual  conversations,  incidentally  suggested 
the  use  pf  sulphuric  ether  for  the  prevention  of  pain  in 
dental  operations.  The  only  positive,  explicit  testimony, 
however,  that  he  actually  mentioned  this  very  agent,  even 
for  this  object,  is  a  case  where  one  of  his  students  was 
desirous  of  being  mesmerized,  with  a  view  to  the  extraction 
of  two  teeth  without  pain ;  whereupon  Dr.  Jackson  sug- 
gested the  use  of  sulphuric  ether  instead.  There  Is  not  a 
tittle  of  evidence,  that  in  any  case,  not  even  in  this  last.  Dr. 
Jackson  expressed  the  wish  to  have  the  experiment  tried  for 
his  own  satisfaction,  or  to  verify  his  suggestion.  And  yet 
we  find,  from   the  "  Defence  "  itself,  that  Dr.  Jackson  was 


268  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

all  along  conscious,  that,  until  such  actual  experiment  was 
})erformed,  nothing  could  be  published  to  the  world  as  a 
fact.  Knowing  this  to  be  so,  he  yet  takes  no  voluntary, 
deliberate  step  whatever  to  ascertain  lohether  it  be  a  fact  or 
not.  He  does  not  try,  or  cause  to  be  tried,  a  single  experi- 
ment on  man  or  animal ;  nor  does  any  one  else  to  whom 
he  makes  a  susfcestion  venture  to  do  so  :  because  ether  had 
been  known  to  jjroduce  fatal  effects,  and  the  decided  weight 
of  authority  was  against  Dr.  Jackson's  opinion  of  its  safety.* 
At  last  comes  Dr.  Morton.  The  subject  of  inhalation  to 
prevent  pain  had  been  long  in  his  mind.  He  had  been  a 
partner  of  Dr.  Wells,  and  knew  of  his  nitrous-oxide  experi- 
ments. These,  having  been  attended  with  but  partial  and 
doubtful  success,  were  abandoned  by  Dr.  Wells.  The  object 
aimed  at  by  them  was  of  great  importance  to  Dr.  Morton  in 
his  profession.  He  buys  sulphuric  ether.  Mr.  Metcalf  talks 
with  him  about  its  character  and  properties,  about  Dr. 
Wells's  unsuccessful  experiments  with  the  nitrous  oxide, 
and  about  the  inhalation  of  ether  as  a  substitute  therefor ; 
telling  him  "  the  generally  received  opinion,  that  its  exces- 
sive inhalation  would  produce  dangerous,  if  not  fatal,  con- 
sequences."    Dr.   Morton  then  calls  on  Mr.  Wightman,  asks 

*  A  recent  jeu-iVesprit,  in  the  ether  controversy,  describes  the  case  of 
a  man,  who,  being  told  by  another  that  tliere  was  lioney  in  the  hollow  of  a 
tree,  subsequently  verified  this  suggestion,  thus  made  the  discovery  himself, 
and  secured  the  honey.  It  would  have  spoiled  the  joke  to  have  added,  that 
the  informant  had  repeatedly  told  others  of  the  same  honey,  all  of  whom 
feared  that  there  was  a  deadly  snake  concealed  in  the  hollow,  and  therefore 
did  not  like  to  put  their  hands  into  it.  This  was,  indeed,  the  "  generally 
received  opinion  "  of  the  whole  neighborhood.  Truly,  under  such  circum- 
stances, the  verifier  of  the  suggestion  deserved  the  honey.  And  it  will  be  in 
vain  for  the  informant  to  cry  out,  "I  saw  it  first:  I  won't  leave  it  to  any- 
body to  decide  which  of  us  shall  have  it.  I  have,  indeed,  sworn  that  it 
belongs  to  us  jointly  ;  but  it  really  all  belongs  to  me.  You  sha'n't  have  a 
mouthful  of  it." 


VINDICATION    OF    HOSPITAL   REPORT.  269 

for  India-rubber  bags  made  for  retaining  gas,  and  inquires 
"whether  it  would  do  to  put  sulphuric  ether  into  them." 
Mr.  Wightman  refers  him  to  Dr.  Jackson  for  more  cer- 
tain and  definite  information  on  the  subject  than  he  can 
give. 

To  a  mind  thus  prepared  to  receive  it,  the  final  impulse 
was  now  to  be  ffiven.  The  same  casual  sugo-estion  v^^hich 
he  had  before  made  to  others.  Dr.  Jackson  at  last  makes  to 
Dr.  Morton,  —  to  one  whom  he  had  known  for  years,  whose 
personal  and  scientific  character  he  distrusted,  and  of  whom 
he  always  spoke  most  disparagingly,  — one  to  whom,  after 
the  very  first  successful  experiments,  he  refused  to  give  a 
written  certificate  of  the  safety  of  ether,  on  the  grounds,  as 
the  "Defence"  alleges,  of  a  conviction  of  his  ignorance, 
and  an  unwillingness  to  figure  in  his  advertisements.  This 
information,  be  it  remembered  (as  stated  in  the  Keport), 
was  elicited  by  Dr.  Morton  in  an  interview  sought  by  him 
for  an  alleged  specific  purpose,  viz.  to  obtain  the  means  of 
persuading  a  patient  to  submit  to  an  operation,  under  the 
idea  that  it  would  be  unattended  with  pain.  It  was  not 
disclosed  in  an  interview  sought  by  Dr.  Jackson.  Dr. 
Morton  was  not  asked  to  make  trial  of  it  for  Dr.  Jackson's 
satisfaction,  or  to  accomplish  his  purposes. 

Now,  is  not  every  act  and  every  omission  of  Dr.  Jackson, 
from  first  to  last  during  these  five  years,  utterly  inconsistent 
with  a  conviction  in  his  own  mind  that  he  had  made  this 
great  discovery?  Had  his  breast  been  warmed  with  the 
faintest  consciousness  of  this  great  truth,  could  he  have 
been  thus  totally  and  uniformly  indifferent?  And  knowing, 
as  he  must  have  done,  the  importance  of  those  experiments 
by  which  alone  it  could  be  verified  "as  a  fact^''  would  he  at 
last  have  suggested  their  performance,  and  resigned  their 
exclusive  manacjement  and  control,  to  one  whom  he  deemed 


270  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

thus  iijnorant  and  reckless?  Havino;  such  a  o;lorious  con- 
ception,  would  he  thus  voluntarily  and  knowingly  have 
incurred  such  imminent  risk  of  miscarriage?  As  well 
believe  that  Columbus  would  have  suggested  and  relin- 
quished to  a  common  sailor  the  attempt  to  discover  his  new 
world !  *  Contrast  for  one  moment  his  conduct  during 
these  five  years  with  his  proceedings  afterwards.  The  dis- 
covery is  no  sooner  promulgated,  and  its  importance  recog- 
nized, than  his  ardent,  impulsive  character,  and  his  thirst 
for  reputation  and  popular  applause,  at  once  display  them- 
selves. The  discovery  is  his  own — wholly  —  exclusively 
—  no  partnership  in  it  with  Dr.  Morton.  He  is  to  have  no 
participation  in  the  credit  which  it  brings  — "  not  even  to 
the  extent  of  the  jjaring  of  a  finger-nail."  Through  private 
and  through  oflficial  channels,  in  conversation  and  by  the 
press,  Dr.  Jackson  communicates  Jds  discovery,  and  claims 
for  himself  the  gratitude  of  mankind.  With  what  face, 
however,  can  he  now  appeal  either  to  the  friends  of  science 
or  of  humanity,  after  the  folly  and  the  heartlessness  in- 
volved in  this  five  years'  delay  ?  What  are  his  claims  to 
gratitude  who  has  proved  himself  so  long  utterly  insensible 
to  the  dictates  of  nature  and  the  suflTerino^s  of  the  world? 
In  alleging  that  he  made  this  discovery  in  1842,  Dr.  Jackson 
seeks,  as  it  seems  to  me,  to  vindicate  his   scientific  claims 


*  Dr.  Jackson  has  compared  himself,  in  this  matter,  to  Columbus  ;  and 
his  friends  have  done  so  likewise  in  previous  publications.  I  was  not  sur- 
prised, therefore,  to  find  that  the  writers  of  the  "  Defence  "  recognize  in  Dr. 
Jackson,  Columbus ;  and  in  Dr.  Morton  merely  the  sailor  who  first  shouted 
"  land  "  from  the  mast-head.  I  would  suggest,  as  a  truer  estimate  of  their 
relative  positions  in  regard  to  tliis  discovery,  that  Dr.  Morton  was  the  ener- 
getic commander  of  a  vessel,  somewhat  deficient,  it  may  be,  in  nautical  sci- 
ence; and  Dr.  Jackson,  a  skilful  pilot,  summoned  when  the  voyage  was  just 
at  its  close,  by  whose  aid  the  vessel  was  brought  safely  into  port ;  where  it 
would,  in  all  probability,  have  arrived,  without  that  aid. 


VINDICATION    OF    HOSPITAL    REPORT.  271 

at  the  expense  alike  of  his  character  and  his  understanding ; 
and  this  although  his  entire  recent  conduct  demonstrates, 
that,  if  he  had  made  this  discovery  in  1842,  the  whole  world 
would  have  known  it  forthwith.  But  no  !  The  supposition 
is  too  monstrous.  The  true  explanation  is  contained  in 
the  Hospital  Report.  Dr.  Jackson  merely  thought  that  the 
insensibility  produced  by  sulphuric  ether  might  last  while  a 
tooth  was  extracted,  —  a  conjecture  of  so  little  consequence, 
that  he  wholly  neglected  all  attempts  to  verify  it,  and  merely 
suggested  it  in  a  casual  manner  when  his  attention  was 
accidentally  called  to  the  subject. 

And  now  I  have  done  with  this  controversy.  Whatever 
be  its  issue,  it  will  always  be  to  me  a  source  of  satisfaction, 
that,  placed  in  a  situation  which  as  I  thought  devolved 
upon  me  the  duty  of  engaging  in  it,  I  have,  according  to 
my  convictions  and  to  my  ability,  candidly  stated  and 
earnestly  enforced  the  claims  of  truth.  I  am  no  "heated 
advocate  of  Dr.  Morton."  I  am  not  even  his  apologist. 
It  was  of  him,  of  his  want  of  frankness,  and  of  the  conse- 
quences which  it  had  entailed  upon  him,  that  the  Report 
says,  "Thus  fitly  has  the  majesty  of  truth  vindicated  itself!  " 
But,  whatever  may  have  been  his  deficiencies  or  his  mis- 
takes, I  feel  certain  that  to  him  the  world  owes  this  discov- 
ery. Should  posterity  ever  erect  a  commemorative  statue, 
I  believe  that  it  will  be  inscribed  with  his  name.  He  has, 
indeed,  already  received  a  slight  "testimonial  of  the  grati- 
tude of  his  fellow-citizens,"  in  a  limited  subscription,  for 
the  purpose  of  contributing  "  towards  indemnifying  him  for 
his  services  and  losses."  On  the  other  hand,  I  have  always 
recognized  the  value  of  the  suggestions  made  by  Dr.  Jack- 
son. There  is  no  evidence,  that,  until  the  interview  with 
him,  Dr.  Morton  had  ever  heard  that  sulphuric  ether,  when 
pure  and  rectified,  could  be  inhaled  to  the  extent  of  produc- 
ing  insensibility,   with  more  safety  than  the    common  ether 


272  ETHER    DISCOYERY. 

of  the  shops.  For  this  opinion,  strongly  expressed,  and  the 
soundness  of  which  was  proved  by  Dr.  Morton's  subsequent 
experiments,  he  was,  as  I  believe,  indebted  to  Dr.  Jackson. 
The  Report  accordingly  speaks  of  this  suggestion  as  one 
"  which  led  or  aided  Dr.  Morton  to  make  this  discovery," 
without  which  "  Dr.  Morton  would  not  have  made  it  at  that 
precise  time,  and  might  have  failed  to  do  so  at  any  time." 
But  I  regard  the  exclusive  pretensions  advanced  by  Dr. 
Jackson  as  the  most  preposterous  that  any  man  of  science 
ever  laid  before  an  intelligent  community  ;  and  such,  I  sin- 
cerely believe,  will  be  the  final  judgment  of  mankind. 


Testimonial  to  Dr.  Morton,  referred  to  above. 

The  following  details  may  not  be  without  interest  in 
relation  to  the  ether-controversy  :  — 

Letter  to  Dr.  Morton. 

"  Boston,  May  12,  1848. 

"  Dear  Sir,  —  At  a  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts General  Hospital,  a  few  weeks  since,  it  was  informally  suggested, 
that  a  limited  subscription  of  one  thousand  dollars  shall  be  raised  for 
your  benefit,  in  acknowledgment  of  your  services  in  the  late  ether-dis- 
covery ;  no  one  to  be  asked  to  subscribe  more  than  ten  dollars.  We 
consented  to  act  as  a  Committee  to  receive  and  apply  the  proceeds  of 
this  subscription.  The  proposed  sum  having  been,  obtained,  we  have 
now  the  pleasure  of  transmitting  it  to  you.  We  also  enclose  the  sub- 
scription-book in  a  casket  which  accompanies  this  note.  Among  its  sig- 
natures you  Avill  find  the  names  of  not  a  few  of  those  most  distinguished 
among  us  for  worth  and  intelligence ;  and  it  may  be  remarked,  that  it  is 
signed  by  every  member  of  the  Board  of  Trustees. 

"  You  will,  we  are  sure,  highly  value  t\\h  first  testimonial,  slight  as  it 
is,  of  the  gratitude  of  your  fellow-citizens.  That  you  may  hereafter 
receive  an  adequate  national  reward  is  the  sincere  wish  of  your  obedient 
servants, 

"  Samuel  Frothixguam. 
"  To  Dr.  William  T.  G.  Morton/'  "  Thos.  B.  Curtis. 


yiNDICATION    OF    HOSPITAL    REPORT.  273 

Dr.  Morton's  Reply. 

"Boston,  May  15,  1848. 

"Gentlemen,  —  I  need  hardly  say,  that  your  communication  of  the 
12th  inst.,  and  the  accompanying  casket,  subscription-book,  and  donation, 
have  been  received  by  me  with  gratification  of  no  ordinary  degree. 

"  Apart  from  the  positive  value  of  the  gifts,  the  kind  feeling  which  has 
led  to  this  manifestation  on  the  part  of  so  many  of  the  first  citizens  of 
Boston  has  affected  me  in  a  manner  that  I  am  not  likely  soon  to  forget. 
The  circumstances  in  which  I  have  been  placed  for  some  time  past  give 
them  an  additional  value ;  and  by  my  children  the  testimonial  will  be 
appreciated  hardly  less  than  by  myself. 

"  In  recognizing  among  the  names  those  of  each  of  the  Trustees  of  the 
Massachusetts  General  Hospital,  I  am  bound  to  acknowledge  this  renewal 
of  my  indebtedness  to  that  institution.  It  was  the  first  to  receive,  verify, 
sustain,  and  promulgate  the  ether-discovery;  and,  from  the  earliest,  I 
have  received  from  its  officers,  surgeons,  physicians,  and  trustees,  nothing 
but  constant  courtesy,  liberality,  and  kind  consideration. 

"  Allow  me  to  acknowledge  your  personal  kindness  in  acting  as  a  Com- 
mittee for  the  purposes  of  subscription,  and  the  tasteful  manner  in  which 
you  have  given  to  it  an  enduring  value  and  significance. 

"  You  are  pleased  to  speak  of  my  services  as  deserving  a  national 
reward.  I  am  glad  to  have  your  concurrence  and  sympathy  in  this 
opinion;  and  it  is  not  unknown  to  you,  that,  if  received,  it  would  be  to 
me,  not  only  a  reward,  but  an  indemnification  and  relief. 

"  Respectfully,  your  obliged  and  obedient  servant, 

"William  T.  G.  Morton. 

"  To  Messrs.  Samuel  Frothingham  and  Thomas  B.  Curtis." 

The  box  accompanying  this  note  had  upon  it  the  follow- 
ing inscriptions: — In  front,  "Testimonial  in  honor  of  the 
Ether  Discovery  of  Sept.  30,  1846."  And  on  the  lid,  "  This 
box,  containing  one  thousand  dollars,  is  presented  to  Wil- 
liam Thomas  Green  Morton  by  the  members  of  the  Board 
of  Trustees  of  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital,  and 
other  citizens  of  Boston,  May  8,  1848."  —  Under  vv^hich  is  a 
line  extracted  from  the  late  Hospital  Report,  viz.  "He  has 
become    poor   in    a    cause  which    has    made    the  world    his 

debtor." 

35 


274  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

The    subscription-book    has    one    hundred    and    fourteen 
signatures.      It  is  headed  as  follows,  viz.  :  — 

"  In  view  of  the  benefit  received  by  the  public  from  the  late  ether- 
discovery,  and  with  the  desire  of  aiding  towards  the  remuneration  of  Dr. 
W.  T.  G.  Morton,  of  this  city,  for  his  services  and  losses,  —  we,  the 
subscribers,  agree  to  pay  the  sum  set  against  our  respective  names;  the 
same  to  be  applied  by  Samuel  Frothingham  and  Thomas  B.  Curtis, 
Esqrs.,  as  they  shall  judge  best  for  the  benefit  of  Dr.  Morton  and  his 
family. 
'  "Boston,  Aprils,  1848." 


III.     DR.    SMILIE'S    ADDRESS. 

Dr.  Smilie  is  a  man  of  science  and  ingenuity.  He 
details  his  own  near  approaches  to  this  discovery.  But 
he  adds,  •' '  There  was  a  lion  in  the  way,'  which  served 
to  restrain  me  at  bay,  until  Mr.  Morton  proved  him- 
self fitted  for  the  encounter.  And,  although  it  is 
urged  by  his  opposers  that  he  lacked  knowledge 
which  should  have  stimulated  his  discretion,  it  is  now 
proved  upon  their  own  grounds,  that  valor,  supported 
by  ignorance,  is,  in  some  instances,  the  better  part 
of  discretion,  in  conferring  benefits  upon  mankind." 
This  pamphlet  awards  the  whole  scientific  credit  to 
Dr.  Wells,  but  admits  that  "  the  pecuHar  character 
of  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital  Report  has 
given  an  almost  irresistible  strength  to  the  favorable 
tide  of  Mr.  Morton's  claims."  It  ends  with  the 
following  paragraph  :  — 


DR.  smilie's  address.  275 

Having,  in  the  foregoing,  given  a  correct  liistory  of  the 
rise  and  progress  of  l4ie  discovery  of  the  powder  of  ether  to 
produce  insensibility  to  pain  in  surgical  operations,  in  con- 
nection with  the  claims  of  each  person,  directly  or  indirectly 
interested  in  bringing  it  before  the  public,  I  will  now  offer 
an  analysis  of  their  claims,  to  expose  the  merit  that  they 
are  se[)arately  entitled  to  from  the  character  of  the  aid  ren- 
dered. In  the  first  place,  a  question  is  raised  or  a  suggestion 
made,  whether  the  nitrous  oxide  might  not  be  used  for  the 
production  of  insensibility  to  pain  during  surgical  opera- 
tions? But,  notwithstanding  the  high  character  of  its 
source,  emanating  as  it  did  from  Sir  Humphrey  Davy,  it 
remained  a  recorded  suggestion  through  the  many  editions 
of  his  works,  for  the  lapse  of  nearly  half  a  century,  and 
had  been  read  and  re-read  by  persons  of  almost  every 
grade  of  talent  in  every  department  of  study,  from  the 
student  to  the  professor,  —  long  trained  in  the  preparation 
of  its  basis  for  the  purpose  of  experiment.  Still  it  passed 
through  an  ordeal  so  varied,  without  ever  being  subjected 
to  a  single  test  in  that  direction ;  while  the  mesmerizer 
was  affording  daily  stimulus  for  its  trial,  by  the  record  of  his 
painless  operations  upon  persons  under  the  influence  of  his 
reputed  science.  But  it  passed  the  gauntlet  of  minds 
engaged  in  the  various  combinations  of  investigation  exer- 
cised in  different  directions,  without  meeting  an  organization 
adapted  for  its  development,  by  making  it  the  subject  of 
trial,  until  it  fortunately  met  the  eye  of  Horace  Wells,  a 
person  possessing  qualities  of  mind  of  an  order  required 
for  its  development,  although  deficient  in  the  stamina  de- 
rived from  early  education,  which  led,  from  the  disap- 
pointment of  cherished  and  just  expectations,  to  his  sadly 
premature  death.  From  that  suggestion,  and  his  acquaint- 
ance with  Mr.  Morton  and  Dr.   Jackson,  and  the  aid  derived 


276  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

from  them  in  gaining  him  an  introduction  at  the  Hospital, 
may  be  traced  the  studied,  motive  influence,  which  directly 
aided  in  making  the  latter  the  accidental  suggester  of  ether 
as  a  substitute  for  the  agent  applied  in  Mr.  Wells's  ex- 
periments. The  former  was  the  adventurer,  who  with 
negative  merit  demonstrated  its  power,  and  placed  it  under 
the  guarantee  of  high  authority  in  the  hands  of  the  profes- 
sion. And  if  there  is  to  be  an  award  of  merit,  we  cannot 
consistently  bestow  it  upon  Sir  Humphrey  Dav}'^,  who, 
with  the  evidence  which  led  him  to  make  the  suijgestion, 
neglected  to  test  it  by  actual  experiment.  Neither  can  we 
attach  merit  to  the  course  adopted  by  W.  T.  G.  Morton, 
the  accidental  instrument  in  developing  the  resources  of 
ether,  as  he  acted  in  his  application  to  Dr.  Jackson  according 
to  the  instructions  of  Mr.  Wells,  for  the  express  purpose  of 
obtaining  the  agent  employed  in  his  experiments  ;  and  least 
of  all  to  Dr.  Jackson,  who,  to  avoid  the  trouble  attendant 
upon  its  prepai-ation,  in  the  press  of  more  urgent  duties, 
gave  qualified  advice  for  the  use  of  ether  from  the  known 
similarity  of  effect  producing  exhilaration,  —  which  he  directly 
specified  at  the  time,  with  the  probable  danger  incurred  by 
its  use.  But  merit  is  naturally  directed  to  Horace  Wells, 
who  tested  an  untried  suggestion  of  long  standing,  from 
his  knowledge  of  the  composition  of  its  basis  and  harmless 
effect,  and  proved  its  applicability,  which  directly  laid  the 
foundation  for  the  discovery  of  a  more  ready  and  certain 
agent,  derived  through  the  fortunate  instruments  of  chance. " 


CONGRESSIONAL    REPORT.  277 


IV.     CONGRESSIONAL  EEPORT. 

THIRTIETH  CONGRESS,  SECOXD  SESSION.  REPORT,  No.  114.  HOUSE    OF    REP- 
RESENTATIVES. 

WILLIAM  T.  G.  MORTON.  —  SULPHURIC  ETHER. 

Feb.  23, 1849,  laid  upon  the  table,  and  ordered  to  be  printed. 

Dr.  Edwards,  from  the  Select  Committee,   to  whom  the  subject  was 
referred,  made  the  following  Report :  — 

The  Select  Committee,  to  whom  was  referred  the  me- 
morial of  William  T.  G.  Morton,  asking  compensation 
from  Congress  for  the  discovery  of  the  anaesthetic  or  pain- 
subduing  property  of  sulphuric  ether,  report,  —  That  the 
following  memorial  was  presented  to  the  House  on  Jan. 
19,  1849,  and  was  on  the  next  day  referred  to  the  Com- 
mittee :  — 

"  To  the  Honorable  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  tlie  United 
States  of  America  in  Congress  assembled: 

"  Your  petitioner,  William  T.  G.  Morton,  respectfully  represents, 
that  lie  is  a  dentist  in  the  city  of  Boston ;  that  in  the  year  1846,  and  for 
several  years  previou.sly  thereto,  he  was  in  the  prosperous  and  lucrative 
practice  of  his  profession  in  that  city ;  his  actual  annual  receipts  from  his 
business,  as  his  accounts  will  show,  being  between  nine  and  ten  thousand 
dollars. 

"  That  his  occupation  obliging  him  to  see  frequent  instances  of  physical 
suffering,  he  was,  as  many  others  had  been,  induced  to  consider  whether 
there  might  not  be  some  means  of  alleviating  such  sufferings,  and  render- 
ing operations  less  painful  to  those  obliged  to  submit  to  them. 

"That,  in  pursuance  of  this  object,  he  examined  such  known  and 
approved  treatises  on  materia  medica  as  he  could  obtain,  and  consulted 
with  the  most  learned  persons  to  whom  he  could  get  access,  but  found  the 
scientific  knowledge  on  this  subject  wholly  vague  and  unsatisfactory  ;  that. 


278 


ETHER    DISCOVERY. 


nevertheless,  he  continued  the  investigation,  and,  gathering  all  the  infor- 
mation he  could,  Avas  led,  step  by  step,  after  many  examinations  and 
experiments,  to  the  belief  that  sulphuric  ether,  properly  adniinistered, 
might  produce  pai-tial  if  not  total  insensibility  ;  that,  desirous  to  verify  his 
belief  by  actual  experiment  on  the  human  system,  and  finding  the  idea 
prevalent  among  the  scientific  that  any  application  which  would  be  pro- 
ductive of  such  effects  would  be  injurious  to  health,  if  not  fatal  to  life,  he 
made  the  experiment  upon  himself,  and,  after  an  unconsciousness  of  sev- 
eral minutes,  awoke  with  no  injury  to  health ;  that,  thus  confirmed  in  his 
views,  he  proceeded,  against  much  opposition  and  amidst  many  obstacles, 
until  at  last,  in  the  presence  of  the  most  eminent  surgeons  and  physicians 
of  a  i^ublic  institution,  and  on  a  public  occasion,  he  was  enabled  to  mani- 
fest the  truth  of  his  conception,  and  exhibited  a  patient  submitting  to  an 
amputation  of  a  leg,  without  the  slightest  sentiment  of  pain,  or  the  least 
injury  to  general  health  in  consequence  of  the  ap^jlication  which  produced 
this  insensibility. 

"  Your  petitioner  would  further  state,  that,  interested  in  the  investi- 
gations which  resulted  in  this  discovery,  he  devoted  himself  exclusively  to 
them,  to  the  neglect  of  his  ordinary  and  regular  business,  in  consequence 
of  which  his  practice  became  almost  entirely  lost  to  him ;  that  his  experi- 
ments and  the  various  arrangements  and  preparations  which  the  calls 
upon  him  from  all  parts  of  the  country,  as  well  as  from  foreign  countries, 
obliged  him  to  make,  and  which  a  belief  in  the  validity  of  his  patent 
induced  him  to  suppose  would  not  be  unrequited,  were  very  expensive, 
and  involved  him  deeply  in  debt;  that  the  patents  which  he  obtained, 
though  legally  valid,  were  in  fact  wholly  valueless  in  a  pecuniary  sense; 
and  that  he  finds  himself  now,  after  all  his  outlays,  exertions,  and  endea- 
vors, with  his  practice  greatly  abridged,  his  reputation  injured  by  the 
efforts  of  those  who  opposed  with  great  wai-mth  the  introduction  of  his 
discovery  ;  his  health  impaired  by  mental  anxiety  and  over-exertion  ;  him- 
self redu(  ed  to  poverty,  embarrassment,  and  pecuniary  distress  ;  and 
probably  the  only  being  living  Avho  has  been  a  sufferer  from  a  discoveiy 
which  enables  the  world  to  rejoice  in  an  exemption  from  many  suf- 
ferings. 

"  Your  petitioner  states  only  facts  which  are  well  and  widely  known. 
He  therefore  respectfully  prays  your  honorable  body,  that  —  considering 
the  nature  of  the  discovery  ;  the  benefit  which  It  confers,  and  must  con- 
tinue to  confer  so  long  as  nature  lasts,  upon  humanity ;  the  pi-Ice  at 
which  your  petitioner  effected  it,  in  the  serious  injury  to  his  business  ;  the 
detriment  to  his  health ;  the  entire  absence  of  any  remuneration  from 


CONGRESSIONAL    REPORT.  279 

the  privileges  under  his  patent,  and  that  it  is  of  direct  benefit  to  the  gov- 
ernment, by  its  use  in  the  army  and  navy  —  you  should  grant  him  such 
relief  as  might  seem  to  you  sufficient  to  restore  him  at  least  to  that  posi- 
tion in  which  he  was  before  he  made  known  to  the  world  a  discovery 
which  enables  man  to  undergo,  without  the  sense  of  pain,  the  severest 
physical  trials  to  which  human  nature  is  subject. 

"  And  your  petitioner  will  ever  pray,  &c. 

"  Wm.  T.  G.  Morton." 

The  day  on  which  the  above  memorial  was  presented  to 
the  Committee,  the  Chairman  addressed  the  following  letter 
to  Dr.  Charles  T.  Jackson,  of  Boston,  knowing  that  a  con- 
troversy had  long  existed  between  him  and  the  memorialist 
in  relation  to  the  discovery  claimed  :  — 

"  House  of  Representatives,  Jan.  20,  1<849. 
"  Sir,  —  I  write  to  inform  you  that  a  memorial  of  Wm.  T.  G.  INIorton 
was  presented  to  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  referred  to  a  Com- 
mittee on  the  patenting  of  compound  medicines,  of  which  I  am  Chairman. 
The  memorialist  claims  the  discovery  and  practical  application  of  sulphuric 
ether  in  producing  ansesthesia,  and  asks  remuneration  from  Congress.  I 
have  long  known  of  a  controversy  as  to  this  discovery,  and  am  aware 
that  you  claim  this  as  yours.  I  shall  with  pleasure  receive  any  commu- 
nications on  this  subject. 

"  Your  obedient  servant, 

"  T.  O.  Edwakds,  Chairman,  &c. 
"Dr.  Charles  T.  Jackson." 

The  following  reply  was  received  :  — 

"  Boston,  Jan.  23,  1849. 
"  Dear  Sir,  — I  have  the  honor  of  acknowledging  the  receipt  of  your 
favor  of  20th  instant,  in  relation  to  the  claims  set  upby  Wm.  T.  G.  Mor- 
ton to  the  discovery  of  etherization,  and  most  heartily  thank  you  for  this 
prompt  and  friendly  intelligence,  and  shall  very  speedily  send  a  remon- 
strance from  the  physicians  and  citizens  generally  of  Boston.  You  will 
very  much  oblige  me  by  waiting  a  few  days  before  bringing  up  the  subject ; 
for  we  are  taken  by  surprise  in  this  matter,  the  movements  of  Morton  and 
his  friends  having  been  concealed  and  unknown  to  us.     The  moment  I 


280  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

heard  that  Morton  had  gone  to  Washington  -with  some  scheme  of  gaining 
notice  from  Government,  I  wrote  yOu  a  letter,  having  learned  that  you 
were  interested  in  the  protection  of  our  profession  from  quackery,  and 
that  as  a  physician  you  would  be  likely  to  interest  yourself  in  this  sub- 
ject. I  was  very  glad  to  learn  by  your  letter  that  you  were  Chairman  of 
the  Committee  before  whom  the  question  of  the  discovery  of  etherization 
would  come.  I  am  satisfied  that  ample  proof  will  be  laid  before  you, 
showing  that  Morton  was  in  no  sense  the  discoverer  of  etherization. 

"  I  will  visit  you  in  person  before  long,  and  then  shall  be  able  to 
explain  every  thing  that  may  not  be  perfectly  clear. 

"Were  it  not  that  my  urgent  duties  as  United  States  geologist  re- 
quired all  my  time,  I  should  rejoice  in  being  able  to  lay  my  case  before 
Congress ;  knowing  that  there  is  much  more  facility  in  arriving  at  the 
truth,  when  both  sides  are  examined,  where  there  is  not  so  much  local 
feeling  as  exists  in  the  vicinity  of  our  Hospital. 

"  I  shall  deem  it  necessary,  for  the  cause  of  truth,  science,  and  for  the 
credit  of  our  profession,  to  lay  my  case  fairly  before  you ;  and  you  shall 
soon  have  all  the  documents  we  can  furnish.  I  now  send  you  Dr.  Gay's 
statement,  which  please  accept. 

"  With  the  highest  regard,  I  have  the  honor  to  be,  your  obedient 

servant, 

"  Charles  T.  Jackson,  31  Somerset  Street,  Boston. 
"  Hon.  Thomas  O.  Edwards." 

"  Professor  Silliman,  Professor  Hare,  Professor  Gibson,  and  all  ovir 
men  of  science  who  have  examined  the  evidence,  decide  in  my  favor. 

"  C.  T.  J." 

The  following  remonstrance  was  presented  to  the  House, 
and  referred  to  the  Committee  :  — 

"  To  the   Senate  and  House  of  Eepresentaiives  of  the  United  States  in 
Congress  assembled : 

"The  undersigned  begs  leave  to  represent,  that,  whereas  a  memorial 
has  been  presented  to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  by  William 
Thomas  Green  Morton,  of  the  city  of  Boston,  in  the  State  of  Massachu- 
setts, representing  that,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  forty-six,  he,  the  said  Morton,  made,  in  the  city  of  Boston 
aforesaid,  a  discovery  by  which  the  human  body  is  rendered  insensible  to 
pain  during  surgical  operations,  and  during  other  serious  and  violent  aifec- 


CONGRESSIONAL   REPORT.  281 

tioas,  by  means  of  the  vapor  of  sulphuric  ether  inhaled  into  the  lungs,  — 
praying  also  for  a  national  remuneration  or  reward  for  making  the  said  dis- 
covery, and  for  its  practical  application ;  and  whereas  the  said  discovery 
was  made  by  the  undersigned,  without  the  knowledge  of  the  said  Morton, 
and  without  the  co-operation  or  assistance  of  any  person  whomsoever,  and 
was  communicated  by  the  undersigned  to  various  persons,  from  the  spring 
and  autumn  of  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-two  to  the  thirtieth  day  of  Sep- 
tember, eighteen  hundred  and  forty-six  inclusive,  and  on  the  said  thirtieth 
day  of  September  was  also  communicated  by  the  undersigned  to  the  said 
Morton,  — he,  the  said  Morton,  being,  previous  to  the  said  communication 
of  the  discovery  to  him,  wholly  ignorant  of  the  anaesthetic  properties  and 
effects  of  sulphuric  ether  aforesaid  ;  and  whereas  the  undersigned  did  also, 
on  the  thirtieth  day  of  September,  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-six,  devise 
and  commit  to  the  said  Morton  the  performance  of  an  experiment  for  the 
verification  of  the  said  discovery,  so  far  as  the  extracting  of  teeth  is  con- 
cerned ;  and  whereas  the  said  Morton,  acting  in  sti'ict  conformity  with  the 
instructions  and  upon  the  exclusive  and  expressly-assumed  responsibility 
of  the  undersigned,  did,  to  the  extent  of  a  painless  extraction  of  a  toothy 
successfully  verify  the  said  discovery ;  and  whereas  the  undersigned  did, 
shortly  afterwards,  cause  the  discovery  to  be  further  verified  by  the  sur- 
geons of  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital,  in  the  first  painless  capital 
operation  ever  performed  under  the  Influence  of  the  ether-vapor ;  and 
whereas  the  signature  of  the  undersigned  to  certain  letters-patent,  taken 
out  In  the  joint  names  of  the  undersigned  and  of  the  said  Morton,  declar- 
ing the  discovery  to  be  their  joint  invention,  was  obtained  through  the 
representation  of  Robert  H.  Eddy,  Esq.,  of  said  Boston,  the  solicitor  by 
whom  the  said  letters-patent  were  procured,  and  copartner  with  the  said 
Morton  in  the  profits  thereof,  that  the  undersigned  '  might  lose  all  his 
credit  as  a  discoverer,'  If  he  did  not  consent  to  become  a  party  to  the  said 
letters-patent ;  and  whereas  the  undersigned,  after  being  Instructed  by 
eminent  legal  counsel  that  the  said  Morton  had  not  rendered  himself  in 
any  sense  a  joint  discoverer,  by  reason  of  the  painless  extraction  of  a 
tooth  as  aforesaid,  and  that  he  had  not  thereby  acquired  any  right  either 
to  an  exclusive  patent  or  to  participation  with  the  undersigned  In  any 
patent  upon  the  said  discovery,  did  publicly  repudiate  all  connection  with 
the  said  letters-patent,  and  did  refuse  any  part  of  the  proceeds  arising 
from  the  sale  of  licenses  under  the  same ;  and  did,  as  he  originally  In- 
tended, give  the  discovery  freely  to  the  woi-ld,  to  the  fuU  extent  of  his 
interest ;  evidence  of  all  which  is  herewith  submitted.  The  undei'signed 
does,  therefore,  earnestly  remonstrate  against  the  memorial  of  the  said 

36 


282  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

Morton,  and  prays  that  his  petition  may  not  be  granted ;  and  that  there 
may  not  be,  on  the  part  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  any 
recognition  whatever  of  his  claims  to  the   said   discovery. 

"  Charles  T.  Jackson. 
"  Washington,  D.C,  Jan.  29,  1849." 

Dr.  Jackson  and  Dr.  Morton  each  appeared  before  the 
Committee  on  several  occasions  ;  and  Mr.  J.  L.  Lord,  attor- 
ney for  Dr.  Jackson,  presented  the  testimony  in  his  favor. 
Various  pampldets  and  numerous  letters,  together  with  nu- 
merous conflicting  and  irrelevant  affidavits,  were  referred  to 
us  ;  and,  after  an  examination  of  more  than  a  month,  and  a 
patient  and  careful  weighing  of  all  the  facts  as  presented,  we 
report  that,  — 

On  the  12th  day  of  November,  1846,  a  patent  was  issued 
by  the  Department  of  State  to  Dr.  William  T.  G.  Morton, 
for  a  new  and  useful  improvement  in  surgical  operations, 
which  consists  in  rendering  tlie  patient  insensible  to  pain,  by 
the  inhalation  of  the  vapor  of  sulphuric  ether. 

The  interest  of  Dr.  Jackson  in  the  patent  was  previously 
assigned  to  Dr.  Morton,  who  now  brings  it  before  Congress 
with  his  memorial,  and  offers  to  surrender  it.  He  asks  from 
Congress  sonae  consideration  for  the  valuable  boon  which  he 
claims  to  have  conferred  upon  his  country  and  the  world,  and 
remuneration  for  his  own  personal  sacrifices  in  making  the 
discovery.  And  he  avers  that  he  himself  is  the  sole  discov- 
erer, aided  only  by  the  current  knowledge  of  the  day,  which 
he  derived  from  books,  and  from  conversation  with  Dr.  Jack- 
son and  other  scientific  men.  Dr.  Jackson,  on  his  part, 
denies  that  Dr.  Morton  is  the  author  of  the  discovery ;  but 
claims  the  whole  merit  as  his  own,  and  avers  that  in  the 
experiments  made  and  operations  performed  by  Dr.  Morton, 
testing  the  truth  and  value  of  the  discovery,  and  bringing 
it  before  the  world,  Dr.  Morton  acted  as  agent,  and  that  all 


CONGRESSIONAL    REPORT.  283 

was  (lone  by  his  special  directions,  and  on  his  personal  and 
pi-ofessional  responsibility.  Tiie  contending  parties  have  pre- 
sented to  the  public  their  respective  statements,  and  have 
adduced  much  evidence  in  their  support ;  all  of  which  your 
Committee  have  felt  it  their  duty  carefully  to  examine  and 
consider. 

The  specifications  which  accompany  the  patent  show  what 
the  contending  parties  admit  to  have  been  known  on  the  sub- 
ject prior  to  alleged  discovery,  and  also  what  they  claim  as 
exclusively  their  own  contribution  to  the  existing  mass  of 
human  knowledge.  It  is  sufficient  to  refer  to  the  following 
clause  in  the  specification  :  "  It  has  been  known  that  the 
vapors  of  some,  if  not  of  all  these  chemical  distillations,  par- 
ticularly those  of  sulphuric  ether,  when  breathed  or  intro- 
duced into  the  lungs  of  an  animal,  have  produced  a  peculiar 
effect  upon  its  nervous  system,  one  which  has  been  sup- 
posed to  be  analogous  to  what  is  usually  termed  intoxication. 
It  has  never,  to  our  knowledge,  been  known  until  our  dis- 
covery, that  the  inhalation  of  such  vapors  (particularly 
those  of  sulphuric  ether)  would  produce  insensibility  to  pain, 
or  such  a  state  of  quiet  of  nervous  action  as  to  render  a  person 
or  animal  incapable,  to  a  great  extent,  if  not  entirely,  of  ex- 
periencing pain,  while  under  the  action  of  the  knife  or  other 
instrument  of  operation  of  a  surgeon,  calculated  to  produce 
pain.     This  is  our  discovery." 

In  addition  to  this,  the  vapor  of  ether,  for  the  last  half- 
century,  has  been  known  as  a  nepenthe  both  in  Europe  and 
America,  and  has  been  inhaled  for  the  relief  of  inflamma- 
tions, spasms,  and  the  effect  produced  by  the  inhalation  of 
chlorine  gas.  Sir  Humphrey  Davy  long  ago  suggested  that 
the  inhalation  of  a  gas  (the  nitrous  oxide)  might  be  used  to 
prevent  pain  in  surgical  operations  ;  and  the  inhalation  of  it 
was  publicly  tried  in  a  dental  operation,  but  without  success, 


284  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

by  Dr.  Horace  Wells,  in  Boston,  in  1844,  in  the  presence  of 
many  persons,  and  Dr.  Morton  aided  in  the  ex{)eriment. 

In  July,  1847,  after  the  ri<iht  to  the  discovery  had  become 
a  matter  of  contest.  Dr.  Morton  drew  up  a  narrative,  in  the 
form  of  a  memorial  to  the  Academy  of  Sciences  at  Paris, 
which  was,  in  the  autumn  of  the  same  year,  presented  by 
M.  Arago,  in  which  he  gives  a  detailed  statement  of  what 
he  claims  as  his  discovery  and  the  steps  by  which  he  arrived 
at  its  consummation.  In  this  he  states,  that,  in  the  summer 
of  1844,  he  was  a  student  of  Dr.  Jackson  and  a  boarder  in 
his  family.  He  details  a  conversation,  in  which  Dr.  Jackson 
explained  the  well-known  effects  of  sulphuric  ether  on  the 
nervous  system,  when  taken  by  inhalation,  and  adds  that  Dr. 
Jackson,  in  the  same  conversation,  said  that  he  had  some- 
times used  ether  as  a  local  application  to  relieve  pain  in  the 
teeth,  and  recommended  it  to  him  for  that  purpose,  and 
afterwards  sent  him  a  vial  of  highly  rectified  chloric  ether, 
which  he  subsequently  used. 

This  conversation  with  Dr.  Jackson  ;  the  effect  produced 
by  the  use  of  ether,  directly  applied  to  the  teeth,  in  deaden- 
ing pain  ;  the  experiment  of  Dr.  Horace  Wells,  in  the  follow- 
ing winter,  with  nitrous  oxide,  in  which  he  assisted  ;  and  his 
subsequent  reading,  which  now  took  a  decided  turn,  directed 
his  mind  to  the  subject,  and  led  to  further  experiments.  He 
gives  the  necessities  of  the  profession  as  the  cause  which 
urged  him  on  in  the  path  of  discovery.  He  details  several 
attempts  in  the  summer  of  1846,  none  of  which  were  en- 
tirely successful,  to  produce  insensibility  to  pain  by  the 
inhalation  of  ether  ;  and  various  efforts  to  provide  some  ap- 
paratus from  which  it  might  be  conveniently  inhaled.  At 
last,  on  the  30th  of  September,  he  again  called  on  Dr.  Jack- 
son for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  further  information  as  to 
the  preparation  and  use  of  the  ether,  and,  at  the  same  time, 


CONGRESSIONAL    REPORT.  285 

studious  to  conceal  the  object  which  he  had  in  view,  lest  Dr. 
Jackson  should  turn  his  thoughts  in  the  same  direction,  and 
anticipate  him  in  the  discovery.  He  states  a  conversation 
with  Dr.  Jackson  on  that  day,  opened  on  his  part  in  a  man- 
ner most  likely  to  cover  his  real  purpose,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  elicit  the  information  desired.  He  says  his  declared 
purpose  was  to  get  a  refractory  patient  in  his  power,  so  that 
he  could  operate ;  and  that  he  said  nothing  about  performing 
the  operation  without  pain.  He  first  proposed  to  act  on  the 
imagination  of  the  patient,  merely  by  administering  atmos- 
pheric air  from  a  gas  bag.  This  Dr.  Jackson  condemned ; 
spoke  of  Dr.  Wells  and  his  nitrous  oxide  with  derision,  on 
which  Dr.  Morton  asked  him  why  he  could  not  use  the  sul- 
phuric ether.  This  Dr.  Jackson  at  once  approved  ;  spoke  of 
the  stupefying  effects  of  the  sulphuric  ether,  and  of  the  stu- 
dents taking  it  at  Cambridge,  and  said  that  the  patient,  would 
be  dull  and  stupefied,  so  that  the  operator  could  do  what  he 
pleased  with  him  and  he  would  not  be  able  to  help  himself; 
and,  after  some  conversation  about  the  preparation  of  ether, 
and  directions  as  to  the  shop  at  which  the  best  could  be  had, 
Dr.  Jackson  gave  him  a  flask,  with  a  glass  tube,  with  which  to 
administer  it ;  and  they  parted.  Dr.  Morton  states  that  he 
procured  the  ether,  went  to  his  office,  locked  himself  up,  and 
tried  its  effects  on  himself;  and  afterwards,  on  the  same  day, 
extracted  a  tooth  without  pain,  or  even  consciousness,  from 
a  patient  whom  he  had  put  under  its  influence.  And  that,  in 
order  to  bring  out  the  discovery,  he  applied  to  surgeons  of 
the  Hospital  to  suffer  it  to  be  tried  in  some  surgical  opera- 
tions, which  they  consented  to  do. 

Dr.  Jackson  denies  the  truth  of  this  statement,  thus  far, 
in  all  its  material  parts.  He  denies  that  Dr.  Morton,  prior 
to  their  interview  on  the  30th  of  September,  1846,  had  any 
knowledge  of  sulphuric  ether,  or  its  effects  on  the  nervous 


286  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

system ;  —  that  he  was,  prior  to  that  time,  in  pursuit  of  any 
discovery  to  prevent  pain  in  dental  operations,  or  that  he  had 
made  any  experiments  whatever  tending  to  that  object ;  and 
he  avers  that  the  operation  of  the  30th  September  was  per- 
formed by  Dr.  Morton  as  his  agent,  by  his  direction,  and  on 
his  sole  responsibility; — that,  in  other  words,  he  was  the 
actor  and  Dr.  Morton  his  instrument ;  and  that  such  also  was 
the  case  in  the  application  to  the  surgeons  of  the  Hospital, 
and  the  successful  experiments  there  tried  in  sundry  opera- 
tions. On  these  questions  much  evidence  is  adduced,  and  on 
their  determination  rests  the  whole  merit  of  the  discovery. 

To  prove,  amongst  other  matters,  that  Dr.  Morton  had  no 
knowledge  of  sulphuric  ether  prior  to  September  30th,  Dr. 
Jackson  takes  the  testimony  of  two  persons,  —  George  O. 
Barnes  and  James  M'Intyre, —  who  were  his  students  in  chem- 
istry, and  present  at  the  interview.  Barnes  details  a  conver- 
sation about  the  use  of  atmospheric  air  to  operate  upon  the 
imagination  of  the  patient,  which  Dr.  Jackson  condemned  ; 
says  that  nitrous  oxide  was  named,  but  not  sulphuric  ether, 
when  Dr.  Jackson  said,  "  Now,  Morton,  I  can  tell  you  some- 
thing that  will  produce  a  real  effect.  Go  to  Burnett  the 
apothecary,  and  get  some  very  strong  sulphuric  ether,  —  the 
stronger  the  better;  spatter  it  on  your  handkerchief;  put  it 
to  your  patient's  mouth  ;  take  care  that  it  be  well  inhaled  ; 
and,  in  a  minute  or  two,  perfect  insensibility  will  be  pro- 
duced." "Sulphuric  ether,"  said  Morton,  "what  is  that? 
Is  it  a  gas  ?  " 

It  will  be  remarked,  tliat  the  witness  here  professes  to 
speak  with  perfect  accuracy,  giving  this  part  of  the  conversa- 
tion in  its  order  in  the  form  of  a  dialogue  ;  but,  if  he  be 
entirely  correct,  it  involves  a  singular  absurdity.  Dr.  Jack- 
son directs  that  the  ether  shall  be  administered  by  spattering 
it  on  a  handkerchief;  on  which  Dr.  Morton  asks  him,  "Is 


CONGRESSIONAL    REPORT.  287 

it  gas  ? "  as  if  gas  could  be  spattered  on  a  handkerchief,  and 
then  administered  to  a  patient.  It  is  possible,  however,  that 
the  very  language  put  in  the  mouths  of  the  interlocutors 
was,  in  fact,  used;  but,  if  so,  Dr.  Morton  could  not  have 
asked  the  question,  '^  Is  it  gas  ?"  in  ignorance,  for  the  fact 
that  it  was  a  liquid  was  explained  to  him  in  the  very  direc- 
tions of  its  use  :  but  it  must  have  been  to  disguise  his 
knowledge,   and  with   it   his  purpose. 

The  statement  of  James  M'Intyre,  the  other  witness,  is 
less  positive,  and  more  consistent  with  probability.  After 
stating  the  conversation  about  the  atmospheric  air  and  the 
nitrous  oxide,  he  says  :  — 

"  As  Morton  was  going  away,  Dr.  Jackson  told  him  that 
he  could  tell  him  something  that  would  make  the  patient 
insensible,  and  then  he  could  do  what  he  had  a  mind  to  with 
liim ;  Morton  asked  what  it  was ;  Dr.  Jackson  then  told 
him  to  go  to  Burnett's,  and  get  some  pure  sulphuric  ether, 
and  pour  it  on  a  handkerchief,  and  let  her  inhale  it.  Mor- 
ton asked  what  sulphuric  ether  was  ;  what  kind  of  looking 
stuff  it  was.  I  stayed  in  the  front  room,  while  Morton  and 
Dr.  Jackson  went  to  look  at  the  ether.  From  Morton's 
questions  about  the  ether,  I  am  satisfied  he  kncM'  nothing 
about  its  properties   or  nature." 

There  is  no  inherent  difficulty  in  this  statement,  and  that 
Mr.  Barnes  is  incorrect  is  rendered  the  more  probable  from 
another  consideration.  If,  after  Dr.  Jackson  had  directed 
Morton  to  go  to  a  drug-store  and  get  sulphuric  ether,  and 
administer  it  by  sprinkling  or  pouring  it  on  a  handkerchief, 
Morton  had  asked  if  it  was  gas,  how  could  the  absurdity 
have  escaped  the  observation  of  the  students  in  chemistry? 
Would  the  two  young  men  have  failed  to  make  it  a  subject 
of  ridicule,  in  conversation  with  each  other,  so  that  it  would 
have   been    impressed   on  the   memory  of  both?      But    the 


288  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

witnesses  concur  in  this,  that,  at  the  time  of  that  conver- 
sation, Dr.  Morton  had,  or  pretended  to  have,  no  knowledge 
of  sulphuric  ether,  or  its  effects  upon  the  nervous  system. 

This  does  not  militate  against  the  general  effect  of  the 
statement  of  Dr.  Morton.  He  went,  as  he  says,  to  Dr. 
Jackson  to  obtain  from  him  certain  information,  but  at  the 
same  time  anxious  to  conceal  from  him  the  object  of  his  pur- 
suit, being  fearful  lest  Dr.  Jackson  might  anticipate  him  in 
bringing  the  discovery  to  perfection.  We  deal  with  this 
matter  as  a  question  of  fact,  not  of  words,  and  do  not  decide 
whether  Dr.  Morton  might  consistently,  with  the  obligations 
which  trust  imposes,  use  artificial  means  to  conceal  a  mental 
conception  which  he  did  not  wish  to  divulge.  We  believe, 
however,  where  a  person  has  a  riglit  to  his  secret,  and  is 
under  no  obligations  to  disclose  it,  a  direct  denial  of  that 
which  was  fact  for  the  purpose  of  such  concealment  has  not 
been  visited  with  strong  moral  censure.  We  would  instance 
the  case  of  Walter  Scott,  who,  at  the  table  of  George  IV., 
when  toasted  by  his  majesty  as  the  author  of  Waverley, 
declared  tliat  he  was  not  the  author.  But  as  to  the  fiict 
of  Mr.  Morton's   knowledge  :  — 

The  statement  of  Theodore  Metcalf,  a  gentleman  of  un- 
disputed veracity,  shows  that,  as  early  as  July  6,  1846,  Dr. 
Morton  talked  and  thought  of  sulphuric  ether ;  had  been 
informed  of  what  was  then  currently  known  in  the  scientific 
world  as  to  its  effects  on  the  nervous  system  ;  that  nitrous 
oxide  was  spoken  of  by  him,  and  the  unsuccessful  experi- 
ment made  by  Dr.  Wells.  Dr.  Morton  had  in  his  possession 
at  this  time  a  vial  of  sulphuric  ether,  which  Mr.  Metcalf 
smelled  and  examined;  so  that,  after  July  G,  1846,  Dr. 
Morton  could  not  but  have  known,  until  he  forgot  his  knowl- 
edge, "what  kind  of  stuff"  sulphuric  ether  was,  and,  gen- 
erally,   something  of  its   application   and  effects.      There  is 


CONGRESSIONAL    REPORT.  289 

much  evidence  corroborating  that  of  Mr.  Metcalf  on  this 
point,  which  will  be  considered  hereafter.  Suffice  it  to  say, 
that  we  think  Dr.  Morton's  knowledge  to  this  extent  well 
established  ;  and  we  think  it  equally  clear,  that,  in  his  con- 
versation with  Dr.  Jackson  in  the  presence  of  his  students, 
he  used  artifice  to  conceal  his  knowledge.  But  did  Dr. 
Morton,  prior  to  the  30th  of  September,  1846,  engage  in 
the  attempted  discovery  of  some  agent  to  prevent  pain  in 
dental  operations?  And  did  it  occur  to  him  to  try  the  vapor 
of  sulphuric  ether  as  such  agent?  This  is  also  affirmed  on 
the  one  side,  and  denied  on  the  other. 

The  testimony  of  Francis  Whitman  goes  to  this  point. 
He  says  :  "  One  day,  I  think  it  was  previously  to  July,  1846, 
Dr.  Morton,  in  speaking  of  improvements  he  had  made  in  his 
profession,  and  of  some  one  improvement  in  particular,  said  if 
he  could  only  extract  them  without  pain,  '  he  would  make  a 
stir.'  I  replied  I  hardly  thought  it  could  be  done.  He  said 
he  believed  it  could,  and  that  he  would  find  out  something 
yet  to  accomplish  his  purpose."  "  Some  time  in  July  last,  he 
spoke  of  having  his  patients  come  in  at  one  door,  having 
all  their  teeth  extracted,  and  without  knowing  it,  and  then 
going  into  the  next  room,  and  having  a  full  set  put  in."  He 
adds,  "  that  Dr.  Morton  came  into  the  office  one  day  in  great 
glee,  exclaiming  that  he  had  found  it,  and  that  he  could 
extract  teeth  without  pain." 

There  is  nothing  in  the  case  to  cast  a  shade  over  the  testi- 
mony of  this  witness.  His  statement  involves  no  contradic- 
tion or  improbability  ;  he  speaks  of  matters  which  would  be 
likely  to  make  a  distinct  impression  at  the  time  :  therefore 
your  Committee  could  not  refuse  him  credence,  even  if  he 
were  uncorroborated  ;  but  this  is  by  no  means  the  case.  Dr. 
Granville  G.  Hayden  testifies  that  Dr.  Morton  applied  to 
him  about  the  last  of  June,  1846,  and  desired  to  make  some 

37 


290  ETHPLR    DISCOVERY. 

arrangement  that  would  relieve  him  from  the  cares  of  his 
office,  as  he  had  an  idea  in  his  head  connected  with  dentistry, 
which  he  thoujjht  would  be  one  of  the  oreatest  thinos  ever 
known,  and  that  he  wished  to  give  all  his  time  to  its  develop- 
ment. He  at  first  declined  to  state  its  nature,  but  at  length 
told  Dr.  Hayden  it  was  something  he  had  discovered  Avhich 
would  enable  him  to  extract  teeth  without  pain  ;  said  that  he 
had  already  tried  its  effects  upon  a  dog,  and  described  its 
operation.  He  said  it  was  not  nitrous  oxide,  and  requested 
Dr.  Hayden  to  say  nothing  about  the  matter.  This  contract 
with  Dr.  Hayden  was  reduced  to  writing  on  the  30th  of 
June,  184G,  as  appears  by  the  statement  of  Richard  H. 
Dana,  jun.,  the  counsel  who  drew  the  instrument;  and,  at 
the  time  he  was  preparing  it.  Dr.  Morton  told  him  that  he 
was  in  progress  of  a  discovery,  which,  if  successful,  would 
revolutionize   the.  practice   of  dentistry. 

In  the  month  of  August,  he  told  Dr.  Hayden  that  his 
agent  was  sulphuric  ether,  taken  by  inhalation  ;  said  he  had 
inhaled  it  himself,  and  tried  to  get  three  young  men  in  his 
office  to  inhale  it.  He  afterwards  spoke  of  ill  success  and 
discouragement  in  the  use  of  ether,  and  Dr.  Hayden  sug- 
gested that  he  should  consult  a  chemist  on  the  subject. 

William  P.  Leavitt  and  Thomas  R.  Spear,  jun.,  who 
Avere  students  in  the  office,  testify  to  the  purchase  of  sulphuric 
ether  for  Dr.  ^Morton,  in  July  and  August ;  that  he  |)revailed 
on  them  to  inhale  the  ether  ;  and  that  he  offered  them  a 
reward,  if  they  would  find  some  one  who  would  consent  to 
have  a  tooth  extracted  under  its  influence  ;  and  that,  after 
Dr.  Hayden  came,  Dr.  Morton  seemed  wholly  absorbed  with 
his  experiments  :  that  he  had  bottles  and  India-rubber  bags 
in  a  small  room  in  his  office,  in  which  room  he  frequently 
locked  himself  up. 

Joseph  M.  Wightman,  a  gentleman  of  very  high  charac- 


CONGRESSIONAL    REPORT.  291 

ter,  states  that,  in  the  summer  of  1846,  Dr.  Morton  applied 
to  him  for  information  upon  increasing  the  security  of  arti- 
ficial teeth  by  atmospheric  pressure  ;  a  short  time  after,  he 
stated  he  had  abandoned  his  views,  which  he  found  were 
erroneous,  and  was  then  engaged  in  something  of  much 
greater  importance  in  his  profession.  "He  then  wished  me 
to  show  him  bags  of  India-rubber  cloth  made  for  retaining 
gas,  and  inquired  whether  it  would  do  to  put  sulphuric 
ether  in  them."  It  is  very  clearly  shown  that  these  inter- 
views occurred  prior  to  the  conversation  with  Dr.  Jackson, 
on  the  30th  of  September,  1846  ;  nor  is  the  mass  of  evidence 
above  referred  to  weakened  in  its  force,  so  far  as  it  bears 
on  the  points  now  under  consideration,  by  the  opposing 
testimony.  This  consists  of  statements  alleged  to  have  been 
made  by  Dr.  Morton,  attributing  the  discovery  to  Dr.  Jack- 
son ;  statements  that  he  had  never  inhaled  the  ether,  and 
statements  on  the  part  of  Spear  and  Leavitt  that  tiiey  inhaled 
the  ether  for  the  first  time,  after  the  30th  of  September, 
1846.  Generally,  this  is  a  species  of  evidence  little  to  be 
relied  upon,  less  in  a  heated  controversy  like  this  in  which 
the  community  participate,  than  in  ordinary  cases  ;  but  we 
will  refer  to  this  more  especially  by  and  by,  when  we  come 
to  consider  the  several  depositions.  But  in  no  wise  can 
evidence  like  this  weigh  against  a  chain  of  facts  and  circum- 
stances, proved,  as  in  this  case,  by  the  testimony  of  many 
disconnected  witnesses.  There  are  no  contemporaneous  facts 
or  declarations  stated  by  the  rebutting  witnesses  on  this  branch 
of  the  case,  except  by  Don  P.  Wilson,  who  says  he  was  In 
and  out  of  Morton's  office  quite  frequently  during  the  sum- 
mer and  the  month  of  September,  1846  ;  never  saw  sulphuric 
ether  there  ;  never  heard  Morton  speak  of  it,  tiiat  he  can 
remember ;  never  perceived  its  odor  about  the  clothes  of 
Morton  or  otherwise,  and  thinks  it  could  not  have  been  used 


292  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

in  the  office  without  his  having  perceived  its  odor.  He  says, 
that,  during  the  summer  of  1846,  he  often  heard  Morton 
speak  of  a  new  discovery  which  he  was  about  to  publish  to 
the  world,  and  which,  to  use  his  own  words,  "would  revo- 
lutionize the  whole  practice  of  dentistry,  and  secure  to  him  a 
fortune  ;  "  but  he  never  hesitated  to  tell  me  and  others,  that 
"  it  consisted  in  a  new  preparation  for  filling  teeth  and  a  new 
mode  of  making  teeth,  and  setting  them  to  plate."  This 
was  Morton's  great  hobby  during  the  summer  of  1846,  and 
during  the  month  of  September,  the  same  year. 

And  John  E.  Hunt,  whose  statement  on  those  subjects  is 
the  same  with  that  of  Wilson,  except  that  he  says  he  was 
"  connected  with  the  office  in  the  summer  of  1846,"  —  how 
connected  he  does  not  say,  but  that  he  "  entered  the  office 
early  in  the  month  of  November  of  that  year,"  —  and  was 
assistant-dentist.  Now,  it  is  sufficiently  apparent,  that  the 
discovery  of  which  Dr,  Morton  did  not  hesitate  to  speak  pub- 
licly to  these  young  men  "and  others,"  could  not  be  the  one 
which  he  was  at  the  same  time  carefully  concealing  ;  and,  for 
the  rest,  the  whole  amount  of  this  evidence  is,  that  these  per- 
sons, who  occasionally  visited  the  office  of  Dr.  Morton  in  the 
summer  of  1846,  did  not  discover  what  he  took  especial  pains 
to  conceal.  The  affidavit  of  William  A.  Brewer,  that  the 
house  to  which  he  belonged  sold  nothing  but  the  best  sulphuric 
ether,  is  no  doubt  true,  according  to  the  o])inion  of  the  wit- 
ness ;  but  it  is  iiardly  possible  for  him  to  know  that  none  of 
an  inferior  quality  left  the  shop,  even  if  the  best  only  were 
])urchased  or  prepared,  as  it  is  an  article  greatly  subject  to 
deterioration  by  time,  especially  if  the  vessel  containing  it 
be  often  uncorked  or  remain  open  for  a  length  of  time, 
in  which  case  the  pure  volatile  ether  flies  off  in  vapor,  and 
the  dregs  remain.  Hence  the  chemical  analysis  had  of  the 
ether    remaining   in    the   demijohn   does,  in    our  judgment, 


CONGRESSIONAL   REPORT.  293 

fall  far  short  of  proving  its  true  quality  when  purchased  at 
the  druggist's. 

But,  on  the  whole,  the  evidence  thus  far  leaves  no  doubt  on 
the  minds  of  your  Committee,  that,  prior  to  his  interview  with 
Dr.  Jackson,  on  the  30th  of  September,  1846,  Dr.  Morton 
was  possessed  of  the  idea  that  the  inhalation  of  sulphuric  ether 
would  render  a  patient  insensible  to  pain  during  a  dental 
operation ;  that  his  time  and  attention  were  for  several 
months  previously  devoted  to  the  bringing  about  this  result ; 
and  that  he  called  on  Dr.  Jackson  that  day  to  obtain  infor- 
mation by  which  he  could  obviate  certain  difficulties  which 
he  encountered  in  his  experiments,  and  that  he  disguised  his 
knowledge  and  purpose  from  Dr.  Jackson,  lest  he  should 
])enetrate  his  secret  and  anticipate  his  discovery.  And  as 
to  that  interview,  of  the  two  witnesses  present,  one,  James 
M'Intyre,  gives  an  account  of  the  conversation,  agreeing  in 
all  matters  of  substance  with  the  account  of  Dr.  Morton, 
except  only  that,  according  to  him,  Dr.  Jackson,  and  not 
Dr.  Morton,  first  spoke  of  the  use  of  ether. 

Georoe  O.  Barnes  said  that  Dr.  Jackson,  after  directinjj 
Dr.  Morton  how  to  give  the  ether,  said  "  that  the  patients,  after 
breathing  a  dozen  breaths,  would  fall  back  insensible,  and 
you  can  do  with  them  as  you  please  without  their  knoicing 
any  thing  about  it,  or  feeling  any  pain;  so  that  you  can 
take  out  their  teeth  at  your  leisure."  This  suggestion  as  to 
insensibility  to  pain  had  become,  as  was  no  doubt  supposed, 
the  very  point  in  issue.  It  was  a  most  striking  remark,  and, 
if  in  truth  it  was  made,  was  most  likely  to  impress  both  the 
young  men  present.  Both  state  the  conversation  in  its  im- 
mediate context ;  so  that  the  statement  of  this  impression  by 
one,  and  its  omission  by  the  other,  amounts  to  a  discrepancy 
which  greatly  weakens  the  force  of  the  affirmative  statements. 
We   have   already  shown   a  still   more    striking   discrepancy 


294  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

between  these  witnesses  in  the  question  attributed  by  Barnes 
to  ]\[orton  —  "  Is  it  a  o^as  ?  "  —  after  Mr.  Morton  had  been  told 
to  get  it  at  an  apothecary's,  and  spatter  it  on  a  handkerchief; 
and  we  are  well  satisfied,  in  this  particular  as  in  that,  it  is 
more  safe  to  rely  on  the  evidence  of  M'Intyre. 

The  evidence,  then,  amounts  to  this  :  Dr.  Morton  came 
into  Dr.  Jackson's  office,  having  in  his  hand  a  gas-bag,  with 
wiiich  he  proposed  to  operate  on  the  imagination  of  a  re- 
fractory patient  by  administering  to  her  atmospheric  air. 
Dr.  Jackson  ridiculed  the  idea.  Niti'ous  oxide  was  spoken 
of;  Dr.  Jackson  objected  to  that,  saying  to  Morton,  that,  if 
he  attempted  to  make  it,  it  would  become  nitric  oxide.  He 
then  suggested  sulphuric  ether,  and  said  it  would  make  the 
patient  insensible,  and  Morton  could  do  what  he  pleased 
with  her.  This  conversation,  it  will  be  noted,  all  took  place 
about  a  refractory  patient ;  the  object  considered  was  the 
mode  of  bringing  a  nervous  patient  to  a  condition  in  which 
she  could  be  operated  upon,  not  in  which  she  would  feel  no 
pain  from  the  operation,  —  Mr.  MTntyre  says  not  one  word 
about  pain  or  its  absence  in  the  operation,  —  but  that  the 
operator  could  do  what  he  pleased  with  the  patient  under  the 
influence  of  sulphuric  ether.  If  this  conclusion  be  correct, 
the  information  given  by  Dr.  Jackson  to  Dr.  Morton  was  no 
more  than  the  current  knowledge  of  the  age,  — no  more  than 
he  would  have  been  told  by  any  scientific  man,  or  than  he 
would  have  read  in  books  which  treat  of  chemistry  and 
medicine:  and,  if  it  differed  in  any  thing  from  the  general 
opinion  of  scientific  men,  it  was  in  a  stronger  than  ordinary 
assui'ance  that  the  vapor  was  not  injurious  to  health.  At 
the  same  time,  it  is  very  clear  to  your  Committee  that  Dr. 
jNIorton  relied  more  implicitly  on  information  which  he 
obtained  from  Dr.  Jackson  than  from  any  other  source, 
and    that  the   information  was   given  with   the   unhesitating 


CONGRESSIONAL    REPORT.  295 

confidence    arlsino;    from    a   consciousness    of  hioh    scientific 
attainments. 

This  view  of  the  subject  awards  to  Dr.  Jackson  the  merit 
of  greatly  aiding,  by  his  advice  and  instructions,  in  the 
discovery.  He  did  not  himself  produce  the  result,  which 
was  new;  or,  by  his  information,  carry  knowledge  in  that 
direction  beyond  the  point  it  had  already  reached.  He  was 
a  safe  and  reliable  guide  to  its  then  utmost  limit  in  that 
direction,  —  the  Calpe  and  Abyla  of  scientific  research, — 
but  left  the  sea  beyond  to  be  explored  by  others.  Nor  is  the 
result  changed  as  to  the  merit  of  the  discovery,  if  we  take  the 
testiuiony  of  Barnes  instead  of  M'Intyre,  as  to  what  occurred 
at  this  conversation.  On  that  hypothesis  Dr.  Jackson  sug- 
gested to  Dr.  Morton,  that  his  patient,  under  the  influence 
of  the  vapor  of  sulphuric  ether,  would  be  insensible  to  pain 
during  his  dental  operations ;  but  this  was  no  new  idea 
to  Dr.  Morton :  he  had  thought  and  spoken  of  it  long 
before.  He  had  for  months  given  himself  up  to  its  con- 
sideration, and  he  had  talked  of  it  to  a  host  of  witnesses 
referred  to  above  ;  some  directly,  some  in  ambiguous  phrase  ; 
but  so,  as  now,  when  the  facts  and  their  connection  and 
dependence  are  known,  to  leave  no  doubt  of  the  object  of 
his  study  and  pursuit.  Then  if,  on  the  30th  of  September, 
1846,  Dr.  Jackson  told  him  that  the  vapor  of  sulphuric  ether 
would  render  his  patients  insensible  to  pain,  he  gave  him  no 
new  information  ;  for  he  was  armed  with  no  fact  to  show  it. 
He  gave  a  speculation  of  his  own,  an  inference  he  had  drawn 
from  his  scientific  knowledge  ;  but  the  idea  was  already  in 
the  mind  of  Dr.  Morton  :  he  had  speculated  on  the  same 
subject,  and  in  the  same  direction.  He  had  drawn  the  same 
infei-ence  from  the  same  general  knowledge,  and  he  had  tried 
an  experiment  on  his  own  person,  with  a  view  of  testing  its 
correctness.     It  is  the  case  of  one  man  in  the  pursuit  of  a  dis- 


296  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

coveiy,  who  has  his  mind  fixed  upon  the  object,  and  the  mode 
of  effecting  it  determined  on,  who  consults  with  another  who 
confirms  and  support  ■  his  previously  entertained  opinions. 

Nor  is  it,  in  our  opinion,  at  all  material  whether  Dr. 
Jackson  had  or  had  not  been  long  before  impressed  with 
the  conviction  that  this  great  object  could  be  effected  by  the 
same  agent,  and  in  the  same  manner  in  which  it  has  been 
brought  about.  If  he  made  the  discovery,  he  did  not  give 
it  to  the  world.  The  case  would  have  been  different  if 
he  had  communicated  the  idea  to  Dr.  Morton  prior  to  his 
researches  in  the  summer  of  1846.  But  this  is  nowhere 
claimed  by  Dr.  Jackson  or  averred  by  any  of  his  witnesses. 

It  is,  however,  contended  by  Dr.  Jackson,  that,  in  the 
administration  of  ether  to  his  patient  on  the  30th  September, 
and  in  the  subsequent  exhibition  of  it  in  the  Hospital,  Dr. 
Morton  acted  as  his  agent  merely  ;  that  he  was,  in  fact,  the 
experimenter  as  well  as  the  discoverer,  and  the  merit  of  suc- 
cess or  the  responsibility  of  failure  rested  on  him.  This 
position  your  Committee  will   now  proceed  to  examine. 

This  claim  is  not  supported  by  the  evidence  which  has 
been  thus  far  considered  :  indeed,  it  bears  strongly  against 
it,  and  your  Committee  can  find  no  contemporary  matter 
touching  this  point,  except  a  statement  of  George  O.  Barnes, 
not  yet  commented  upon.  The  witness,  after  stating  Dr. 
Jackson's  efforts  to  overcome  the  scruples  of  Morton,  says  : 
"  Indeed,  Dr.  Jackson  urged  the  matter  very  earnestly  and 
with  perfect  confidence,  taking  on  himself  the  whole  re- 
sponsibility." Now,  if  this  be  a  deduction,  an  inference 
from  the  conversation  stated,  it  is  of  no  value  whatever, 
except  to  show  a  certain  earnestness  in  the  witness.  If  it 
be  but  a  further  declaration,  it  is  unsupported  by  the  testi- 
mony of  M'Intyx'e  ;  and,  in  a  tiiird  important  particular, 
differs   from   and   goes   beyond   him.     But  the  well-attested 


CONGRESSIONAL   REPORT.  297 

conduct  of  the  parties  themselves,  at  the  time  of  the  trans- 
action in  which  this  agency  is  claimed  to  have  been  con- 
ferred and  accepted,  what  is  termed  by  lawyers  the  res 
gentce,  shows  more  clearly  than  every  thing  else  the  true 
relation  which  they  then  bore  to  each  other,  and  each  of 
them   to  the  subject-matter  in  controversy. 

Dr.  Jackson  claims  that  he  had  long  had  in  his  mind  a 
conviction  that  the  vapor  of  sulphuric  ether  could  be  inhaled 
without  danger  or  injury  to  the  patient,  and  that,  under  its 
influence,  surgical  operations  could  be  performed  without 
pain.  All  admit  him  to  be  a  man  of  science,  fully  aware  of 
the  mighty  value  of  such  a  discovery,  and  not  at  all  indif- 
ferent to  his  own  reputation  in  the  scientific  world.  In  this 
state  of  things,  we  cannot  conceive  it  possible  that  he  could 
have  remained  inactive  for  years,  waiting  till  chance  should 
send  him  some  one  to  bring  out  his  great  discovery,  instead 
of  proceeding  himself  by  direct  experiment.  It  is  not  at  all 
disputed,  that  Dr.  Morton  went  to  Dr.  Jackson's  shop  that 
day  uninvited  ;  that  his  wants,  and  not  Dr.  Jackson's  wishes 
and  purposes,  led  to  the  conversation  ;  that  there  was  nothing 
of  an  especially  confidential  nature  between  them  ;  and  that 
what  Dr.  Jackson  said  to  him,  he  said  in  the  usual  manner 
of  public  conversation,  and  not  like  a  man  who  was  engaging 
another  to  bring  out  a  most  important  discovery  to  the  world. 

But,  take  Dr.  Morton  to  be  just  what  Dr.  Jackson  and 
his  two  witnesses  represent  him  to  have  been  at  the  time 
of  that  conversation,  was  he  the  man  whom  Dr.  Jackson 
would  have  trusted  to  represent  him  in  a  matter  so  deeply 
involving  his  character  and  his  fame  ?  Say  it  is  Jackson's 
discovery,  the  experiment  is  his,  he  is  responsible  for  the 
consequences.  If  it  succeed,  he  has  made  the  noblest  con- 
tribution to  surgical  science  which  the  century  has  witnessed  ; 
if  it  fail,  the  consequences  might  be  most  disastrous.     Whom 

38 


298  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

does  he  select  to  carry  out  this,  the  most  important  con- 
ception of  his  life  or  of  the  age  ?  Let  his  two  witnesses 
answer. 

According  to  them,  a  man  profoundly  ignorant  of  the 
powerful  medicinal  agent  which  he  was  directed  to  employ, 
one  who  did  not  know  what  kind  of  "stuff"  sulphuric  ether 
was,  and  who  wished  to  see  it  in  order  thus  to  test  its 
qualities,  is  selected  by  one  of  the  first  scientific  men  of  the 
age  to  conduct  a  delicate  and  dangerous  experiment  witli  this 
same  sulpliuric  ether,  on  the  success  of  which  even  more 
than  reputation  depended.  If  Dr.  Jackson  had  dwelt  upon 
the  subject,  conceived  the  discovery  in  his  own  mind,  con- 
sidered it  with  a  view  of  making  it  known  to  the  world  and 
useful  to  mankind,  he  knew  that  much  depended  on  the  first 
public  exhibition  ;  and  he  also  knew  that  it  required  science, 
prudence,  and  skill  to  render  the  experiment  successful,  and 
prevent  its  becoming  disastrous.  Sulphuric  ether  would 
produce  insensibility  to  pain  ;  too  little  of  it  would  make 
the  experiment  ineffectual,  and  bring  the  operator  and  his 
nostrum  into  ridicule  ;  too  much,  or  the  proper  quantity 
unslcil fully  administered,  would  produce  asphyxia,  probably 
death.  Under  these  circumstances,  how  can  your  Commit- 
tee believe  that  Dr.  Jackson  would  have  trusted  such  a  man, 
as  his  witnesses  represent  Dr.  Morton  to  be,  with  his  first 
experiment  upon  his  great  discovery?  Would  it  not  have 
been  inexcusable  in  him  to  have  done  so?  Would  it  not 
have  shown  a  recklessness  of  his  own  fame  and  the  lives  of 
his  fellow-men  ? 

Such  a  conclusion,  your  Committee  are  satisfied,  cannot 
be  imputed  to  him  with  justice.  Had  Dr.  Jackson  made  the 
discovery  and  felt  that  it  was  his,  could  he  have  failed  to  be 
at  once  aware  of  its  vast  ini[)ortance,  and  the  world-wide 
reputation  it  would  give  him?     Would  he  have  trusted  it 


CONGRESSIONAL    REPORT.  299 

for  a  moment  in  the  hands  of  a  man  less  skilful  and  scientific 
than    himself  ?  —  indeed,   would   he   have   intrusted   it  with 
any  one?     But  would  he  not  have  himself  seen  that  it  was 
administered  in  a  proper  manner,  and   under  proper  condi- 
tions to  make  it  safe  and   effectual?     Would  he  not  have 
stood  by,  and  watched  the  sinking  pulse  of  his  first  subject, 
until   insensibility  was   complete,  and   have   been   careful  to 
withdraw  it  when  he  saw  it  was  likely  to  endanger  life,  and 
thus  done  all  that  science  and  skill  could  do  to  avoid  a  failure 
or  a  catastrophe?     But  there  was  nothing  of  this.     Having 
given  the  information  which  he  did  give  in  the  conversation 
with  Dr.  Morton,  he  turned  neither  to  the  right  nor  left,  nor 
troubled  himself  further  on  the  subject,  until  he  was  advised 
by  Dr.  Morton  thi.t  the  experiment  had  been  successful.     He 
expresses  no  surprise,  no  emotion  :    it  is  an  incident  of  the 
day,  —  an  occurrence.    According  to  the  testimony  of  Barnes, 
he  advises  Dr.  Morton  to  try  it  in   some  capital  operation 
in  the  Hospital ;  does  not  say  he  will  try  it  himself,  which 
he  might  or  ought  to  have  done,  if   jNIorton   had   been  his 
agent.       He   does   not   propose   to   get   permission   for    Dr. 
Morton  so   to  try  it ;    though  he  well  knew  the  application 
by  himself,  or  in    his  name,   would   ensure   the   permission. 
He  advises  Dr.  Morton  to  get  permission,  and  try  it  in  the 
Hospital,  and  does   not  propose   to  be  present,  and  in  fact 
is  not  present,  when  the  trial  is  made,  though  the  Hospital 
was  but  five  minutes'  walk  from  his  door.      That  operation 
was  successfully  performed,  and  another  was  noticed  to  take 
place   the  next  day,  about  which  Dr.  Jackson  gave   himself 
no  concern,  and   at  which  he  was   not  present.     Tiie   Com- 
mittee  feel   that   his  conduct   during  this    time    was   wholly 
inconsistent  with  the  fact,  that  he  recognized   the  discovery 
as  his  own,  and  that  these  were  his  experiments. 

It  is  urged  as  a  reason  for  his  absence  at  the  first  opera- 


300  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

tion  in  the  Hospital,  that  Dr.  Morton  did  not  inform  him  at 
what  time  it  was  to  take  place.  As  to  this,  there  is  no 
proof  that  he  did  or  did  not  inform  him  :  but  surely  had 
Dr.  Jackson  felt  the  solicitude  which  the  discoverer  would 
naturally  feel,  he  would  have  informed  himself,  and  his  daily 
associations  naturally  led  him  to  the  knowledge.  On  the 
other  hand,  after  the  successful  operation  of  the  oOth  of 
September,  and  after  Dr.  Morton  had  seen  his  patient  and 
ascertained  that  he  had  suffered  no  injury  from  the  ether,  — 
elated  with  his  success,  he  consulted  Dr.  Hayden  as  to  the 
mode  of  bringing  out  the  discovery,  and  suggested  at  once 
that  he  would  introduce  it  into  the  Hospital.  A  few  days 
afterwards,  he  told  Dr.  Hayden  that  Dr.  Jackson  would  not 
countenance  the  discovery,  and  again  said  he  would  go  to 
Dr.  Warren  and  endeavor  to  have  it  introduced  into  the 
Hospital.  The  fact  that  Dr.  Jackson  refused  to  give  Dr. 
Morton  a  certificate  that  ether  Avas  harmless  in  its  effects,  or 
might  be  used  with  safety,  is  admitted  by  Dr.  Jackson  in  his 
defence  by  the  Messrs.  Lord  ;  but  they  say  it  proves  nothing 
but  Dr.  Jackson's  "  unwillingness  to  figure  in  Dr.  Morton's 
advertisements,  and  his  iirudence  in  refusing  to  make 
himself  responsible  fur  any  thing  and  every  thing  Mor- 
ton^ in  his  ignorance,  might  do,  xo'ith  an  agent  liable  to 
the  most  dangerous  abuse." 

This,  if  it  stood  alone,  might  be  satisfactory  ;  but  one  of 
the  witnesses,  Geo.  O.  Barnes,  says,  that,  on  the  30th  of  Sep- 
tember, Dr.  Jackson  employed  Dr.  Morton  to  use  this  very 
agent.  He  assured  him  it  would  "  not  do  the  least  injury." 
He  "  urged  the  matter  very  earnestly,  expressly  talcing  on 
himself  all  the  responsibility  ;  "  and  it  was  on  the  1st  of 
October,  the  morning  after  the  successful  experiment,  that 
Dr.  Jackson  refused  to  give  a  certificate  "  that  ether  was 
harmless  in  its  effects,"  and  yet,  on  this  same  day,  the  wit- 


CONGRESSIONAL    REPORT.  301 

ness  Barnes  says,  on  being  advised  by  Dr.  Morton  of  the 
success  of  the  operation,  Dr.  Jackson  said  to  him:  "You 
must  go  to  Dr.  Warren,  and  get  his  permission  to  admin- 
ister it  in  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital,  and,  if  possi- 
ble, it  should  be  on  a  capital  operation."  And  he  goes  on 
to  say  that  INIorton  strongly  olyected  at  first  to  going  to  the 
Hospital ;  that  everybody  would  smell  the  ether,  and  it  would 
not  be  kept  secret ;  but  that,  after  learning  something  to  dis- 
guise the  odor,  he  agreed  to  api)ly  to  the  Hospital. 

We  have  already  adverted  to  the  fact,  that  Dr.  Morton, 
the  very  evening  after  the  successful  operation,  suggested 
to  Dr.  Hayden  that  he  would  go  to  the  Hospital  and  get 
permission  to  try  the  ether  there  ;  that  he  went  next  morn- 
ing to  Dr.  Jackson,  and  returned,  saying  Dr.  Jackson  would 
not  give  his  countenance  to  the  discovery  ;  and  it  is  admitted 
that  Dr.  Jackson  refused  him  the  certificate  he  wislied  for, 
and  one  of  the  reasons  given  is  that  he  did  not  think  him  fit 
to  be  trusted.  Is  it,  then,  probable  that  he  urged  him  to  go 
to  the  Hospital,  and  there  bring  out  his  (Dr.  Jackson's)  great 
discovery?  But  James  IM'Intyre  was  also  present  on  the 
1st  of  October,  when  Dr.  Morton  returned  and  advised  Dr. 
Jackson  of  the  entire  success  of  the  experiment ;  and  he 
says  not  a  word  of  Dr.  Jackson's  proposing  to  Dr.  Morton 
to  try  an  experiment  in  the  Hospital.  Your  Committee  has 
already  remarked  on  several  other  points  of  difference  in  the 
testimony  of  these  two  witnesses  ;  and  in  each  case,  as  in 
this,  they  felt  themselves  constrained  by  the  testimony  of 
other  witnesses,  and  by  the  inherent  character  of  the  evi- 
dence, to  rely  on  the  accuracy  of  M'Intyre  rather  than  of 
Mr.  Barnes,  where  these  discrepancies  occur. 

Another  difficulty  in  sustaining  the  position  assumed  by 
Dr.  Jackson  foi'cibly  impresses  itself  upon  your  Committee. 
According  to  this,  on  the  30th   of  September,  Dr.  Jackson 


302  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

entrusted  Dr.  Morton  with  his  discovery,  and  not  only  suf- 
fered him,  but  "earnestly  urged"  him,  to  use  it,  assuring 
him  it  was  perfectly  safe  ;  Dr.  Morton  tried  it  on  the  same 
evening ;  his  success  was  complete  ;  he  brought  to  Dr.  Jack- 
son the  next  morning  conclusive  evidence  of  all  this,  and 
Dr.  Jackson  refused  him  a  certificate  bscause  he  would  not 
"  make  himself  responsible  for  any  thing  and  every  thing 
Morton  in  his  ignorance  mioht  do  with  an  ai^ent  liable  to 
the  most  dangerous  abuse."  While  nothing  is  shown  to 
shake  Dr.  Jackson's  confidence  in  Dr.  Morton  since  the  pre- 
vious day,  or  at  all  to  change  his  opinion  of  him  except  the 
triumphant  success  of  the  operation  which  he  reported  and 
proved.  On  the  16th  of  October,  the  first  operation  was 
performed  in  the  Hospital,  at  which,  as  we  have  already 
shown.  Dr.  Jackson  did  not  attend,  and  at  which  his  name 
was  not  known.  The  second  operation  at  the  Hospital  took 
place  on  the  17th,  Dr.  Jackson  taking  no  part  in  it  by  his 
presence  or  his  counsel.  Both  operations  were  entirely  suc- 
cessful, and  both  conducted  on  the  part  of  Dr.  Morton  to 
the  entire  satisfaction  of  the  surgeons  of  the  Hospital.  But 
at  this  time  Dr.  Jackson's  confidence  in  Dr.  Morton,  if  he 
ever  did  confide  in  him,  is  wholly  gone.  He  denies,  in 
the  conversation  with  his  neighbor  and  friend,  Caleb  Eddy, 
that  under  the  influence  of  ether  the  flesh  of  a  patient  can  be 
cut  without  pain  ;  says  Morton  "  is  a  reckless  man  for  using 
it  as  he  has  ;  the  chance  is  he  will  kill  somebody  yet  ;  "  and, 
in  the  interval  between  the  30th  of  September  and  about 
the  23d  of  October,  he  declared  that  he  did  not  care  what 
Morton  did  with  it  or  how  much  Morton  advertised,  if  his 
own  name  was  not  drawn  in  with  it. 

It  would  seem,  that,  as  Dr.  Morton  acquired  eclat  by  his 
constant  success,  as  he  continually  and  rapidly  rose  in  the 
estimation  of  other  scientific   men,  he  as   continually  and  as 


CONGRESSIONAL    REPORT.  303 

rapidly  sunk  in  the  estimation  of  Dr.  Jackson.  The  evi- 
dence of  Francis  Whitman  and  Mr.  Caleb  Eddy  shows,  that, 
prior  and  up  to  the  23d  October,  Dr.  Jackson  spoke  doubt- 
ingly  of  the  effect  of  ether,  and  condemned  its  use ;  and 
there  is  no  proof  whatever,  that  within  that  time  he  lent 
the  sljohtest  countenance  to  Dr.  Morton  to  sustain  the  dis- 
covery  ;  and  all  his  remarks,  except  those  stated  by  Dr.  T.  E. 
Hitchcock  to  have  been  made  to  him  on  the  2d  and  3d  of 
October,  tend  to  create  distrust  and  destroy  confidence  both 
in  the  operator  and  the  agent  used.  His  favorable  mention 
of  it  to  Dr.  Keep  occurred  after  the  26th  of  October,  the 
actual  date  not  fixed,  and  was  accompanied  with  a  strong 
aeneral  charge  of  ignorance  and  recklessness  against  Mor- 
ton,  who  was  then  in  the  full  tide  of  successful  experiment. 
This  state  of  facts  is,  in  the  opinion  of  your  Committee, 
wholly  inconsistent  with  the  assumption  that  Dr.  Jackson 
was  the  discoverer ;  that  he  had  employed  Dr.  Morton  to 
bring  out  the  discovery,  and  that  the  experiments  of  Morton 
were  tried  on  the  responsibility  of  Dr.  Jackson. 

On  the  30th  of  September,  the  first  successful  operation 
took  place.  On  the  first  of  October,  Dr.  Morton  applied  to 
R.  H.  Eddy,  agent  for  patents,  to  aid  him  in  procuring  a 
patent  for  the  discovery.  ]Mr.  Eddy  took  the  case  into  con- 
sideration, and  did  not  see  Dr.  Morton  again  until  the  21st. 
In  the  mean  time  Dr.  Morton's  experiments  had  been  attended 
with  the  most  flattering  success.  Two  operations  had  been 
performed  in  the  Hospital  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  the 
faculty,  and  the  discovery  had  acquired  a  footing  in  the 
medical  world;  and  prior  to  the  21st,  but  the  precise  day  is 
not  stated,  Dr.  Jackson  had  a  conversation  with  Mr.  Eddy, 
was  informed  of  the  application  of  Dr.  Morton  for  a  patent, 
and  claimed  that  he  had  some  connection  with  Dr.  Morton 
in  making  the  discovery.     He  called  on  Dr.  Morton  on  the 


304  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

23(1 ;  and  it  was  then  arranged  that  Dr.  Jackson  was  to  have 
$500  for  the  information  he  had  given  Dr.  Morton,  if  ten 
per  cent  on  the  proceeds  of  the  patent  would  produce  that 
amount. 

This  arrangement  between  the  parties,  settled  by  and 
between  themselves  in  a  private  conference,  proved  by  their 
subsequent  conversation  with  Mr.  Eddy,  and  not  now  denied, 
shows  conclusively  the  view  that  each  had  of  his  respective 
participation  in  the  discovery.  It  was  between  them  both 
distinctly  a  business-transaction,  —  an  affair  of  dolhu's  and 
cents,  and  as  clearly  Dr.  Jackson  called  and  introduced  the 
conversation,  —  not  to  assert  his  rights  to  the  discovery, — 
not  to  inquire  as  to  its  success,  for  of  this  public  report  had 
advised  him,  —  not  to  give  any  advice  or  caution  as  to  its 
further  use,  but  to  claim  a  compensation  in  money  for  the 
advice  and  information  he  had  given  to  Morton  on  the  30th 
of  September  ;  and  $500,  if  ten  per  cent  on  the  proceeds 
of  the  patent  would  produce  it,  was  agreed  upon  as  the 
sum  to  be  paid  for  that  information.  This  conversation  and 
agreement  is  entirely  consistent  with  the  view  we  have  thus 
far  taken  of  the  case  ;  but  it  is  wholly  inexplicable  on  the 
ground  assumed  by  Dr.  Jackson.  But  the  representations 
and  advice  of  Mr.  Eddy,  the  common  friend  of  the  parties, 
modified  their  arrangement.  He  represented  to  Dr.  Morton, 
that  Dr.  Jackson,  from  having  given  him  the  information 
and  advice  spoken  of  on  the  30th  of  September,  was  en- 
titled to  participate  in  the  patent  as  a  joint  discoverer ;  that, 
if  he  were  not  joined  in  the  patent,  the  fact  of  his  giving 
that  information  would  be  used  to  impeach  the  patent ;  and 
that,  if  Dr.  Jackson  were  joined  as  a  patentee,  his  name 
and  his  advice  and  assistance  would  be  useful  in  bringing  out 
the  discovery  and  giving  it  celebrity.  With  these  arguments, 
Dr.  ISIorton  was  satisfied,  and  consented  that  Dr.  Jackson 


CONGRESSIONAL    REPORT.  305 

should  be  named  as  a  joint  discoverer  in  the  patent.  Mr. 
Eddy  also  advised  with  Dr.  Jackson,  who  informed  him, 
that,  "  by  the  laws  of  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society, 
he  would  be  prevented  from  joining  with  Dr.  Morton  in 
taking  out  a  patent,  as  he  would  be  expelled  from  the  asso- 
ciation if  he  did  so.  He  further  stated,  that  he  intended  to 
make  a  professional  charge  of  $500  for  the  advice  he  had 
given  him,  and  that  Dr.  Morton  had  acceded  to  this  ;  that 
he  did  not  wisii  his  name  coupled  with  Dr.  Morton  in  any 
manner ;  that  Dr.  Morton  might  take  out  a  patent  if  he  de- 
sired to  do  so,  and  do  what  he  pleased  with  it."  At  a  subse- 
quent interview  prior  to  the  27th  of  October,  Mr.  Eddy 
urged  Dr.  Jackson  to  waive  his  objections  to  associating  with 
Dr.  Morton,  as  ''  I  was  confident  that  he  was  mistaken  in 
his  views  as  to  what  would  be  the  action  of  the  medical 
association  ;  that  Dr.  Morton  could  not  properly  take  out 
a  patent  without  him  ;  and  that,  by  joining  in  the  patent,  he 
would  of  a  certainty  be  obtaining  credit  as  a  discoverer ; 
whereas,  should  he  not  do  so,  he  might  lose  all  credit,  as  in 
the  case  of  the  magnetic  telegraph,  which  I  understood  from 
Dr.  Jackson  he  had  suggested  to  Professor  Morse."  The 
objection  as  to  the  Medical  Society  was  removed  on  consul- 
tation with  Dr.  Gould.  Dr.  Jackson  consented  to  join  in 
the  patent,  and  it  was  agreed  that  he  should  have  ten  per 
cent  of  the  proceeds  for  his  interest  in  it. 

Your  Committee  do  not  feel,  that  on  this  question  of  fact 
the  parties  ought  to  be  bound  by  the  legal  conclusions  of 
their  common  friend,  Mr.  Eddy,  or  by  the  papers  which 
they  executed  in  pursuance  of  his  legal  advice.  But  they  do 
consider  the  communications  made  by  them  at  the  time  to 
Mr.  Eddy  ;  the  mutual  agreement  of  the  parties  between 
themselves,  as  touching  the  discovery  and  the  facts  admitted 
by  them  on  the  consultation,  as  matter  of  the  utmost  inipor- 

39 


306  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

tance  and  significance.  A  voluntary  agreement  took  place 
between  the  parties  on  that  day,  of  which  both  must  have 
understood  the  full  force  and  effect,  and  to  wiiich  neither 
seems  to  have  been,  or  probably  could  have  been,  impelled 
by  advice  or  counsel.  It  was  that  the  whole  right  to  use 
the  discovery  under  the  patent  should  be  and  was  assigned 
to  Dr.  Morton,  he  paying  to  Dr.  Jackson  ten  per  cent  on  all 
sales  for  licenses. 

Your  Committee  cannot  here  fail  to  remember  the  un- 
qualified terms  of  contempt  and  reprobation  in  which  Dr. 
Jackson  had  during  the  preceding  part  of  that  month,  down 
almost  to  the  very  date  of  this  arrangement,  spoken  of  Dr. 
Morton  and  his  alleged  ignorance  and  recklessness  in  the  use 
of  this  agent.  They  cannot  conceive  it  possible,  that,  if  he 
felt  himself  to  be  the  true  discoverer,  he  would,  by  solemn 
contract,  relinquish  all  power  over  his  discovery,  and  place 
it  solely  in  the  hands  of  a  man  of  whom  he  thought  so 
illy.  Dr.  Jackson  indignantly  repels  the  idea  that  it  was 
done  for  the  purpose  of  gain  ;  and  we  think  it  could  not  be 
the  case,  as  the  pittance  reserved  to  him,  if  he  conceived 
himself  the  discoverer,  was  despicably  small.  And  how 
could  he  hope  to  acquire  fame,  by  abandoning  the  most 
important  discovery  of  the  age  ;  one  which,  if  it  were  his, 
and  if  under  the  auspices  of  his  reputation,  with  his  skill 
and  science,  it  were  presented  to  the  world,  could  not  fkil 
to  place  him  on  the  highest  scientific  and  professional  emi- 
nence? How  could  he  hope  to  acquire  fame,  by  thus 
surrendering  all  control  over  this  discovery,  and  placing 
it  in  the  hands  of  such  a  man  as  he  had  represented,  and 
still  represents.  Dr.  Morton  to  be? 

A  careful  examination  of  the  above  detailed  acts  and 
conversations  of  the  j)arties,  down  to  the  27th  of  October, 
about  which  it  would  seem  to  your  Committee  there  could 


CONGRESSIONAL    REPORT.  307 

be  no  doubt,  renders  it  clear  almost  to  a  demonstration,  that 
neither  Dr.  Jackson  nor  Dr.  Morton,  nor  any  of  those  who 
had  witnessed  or  aided  in  the  operations,  supposed  that  Dr. 
Jackson  was  entitled  to  the  merit  of  this  discovery,  or  any 
other  merit  than  that  of  having  communicated  important 
information  to  Dr.  Morton  ;  and,  if  we  trace  the  conduct  of 
the  parties  further,  this  opinion  is  but  confirmed. 

On  the  7th  of  November,  a  capital  operation  was  per- 
formed by  Dr.  Hayward  in  the  Hospital ;  the  patient  being 
under  the  influence  of  sulphuric  ether  administered  by  Dr. 
Morton.  Dr.  Warren,  being  informed  by  Dr.  Jackson  that 
he  suggested  the  use  of  sulphuric  ether  to  Dr.  Morton, 
invited  him  to  attend,  and  administer  the  ether.  He  declined 
for  two  reasons  :  one  was,  that  he  was  going  out  of  toivn; 
the  other,  that  he  could  not  do  so  consistently  with  his 
arrangements  with  Dr.  Morton  :  so  the  first  capital  operation 
under  the  influence  of  ether  was  successfully  performed, 
Dr.  Jackson  not  yet  thinking  fit  to  attend.  But,  in  a  com- 
munication published  in  the  Boston  Daily  Advertiser  of 
March  1st,  1847,  he  says:  "I  was  desirous  of  testing  the 
ether  in  a  capital  operation,  and  Dr.  Warren  politely  con- 
sented to  have  the  trial  made ;  and  its  results  proved  entirely 
satisfactory,  an  amputation  having  been  performed  under  the 
influence  of  the  ethereal  vapor  without  giving  any  pain  to  the 
patient."  It  strikes  the  mind  with  some  surprise  that  Dr. 
Jackson  should  claim  this  operation  as  an  experiment,  made 
by  him  at  his  request,  and  to  satisfy  himself  of  the  efficacy 
of  the  "  ethereal  vapor "  in  a  capital  operation  ;  when  the 
only  connection  which  he  had  with  the  operation  was  to 
decline  attending  it  when  specially  invited.  Indeed,  so 
entirely  did  he  omit  to  inform  himself  on  the  subject  of 
this  experiment  —  which  he  declares  to  be  his  —  that,  in  the 
above  communication,  he  names  Dr.  Warren  as  the  surgeon 


308  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

who  performed  the  operation,  which  was  in  fact  performed 
bj  Dr.   Hayward. 

Another  surgical  operation  was  performed  at  the  Brom- 
field  House  on  the  21st  of  November,  the  ether  again 
administered  by  Dr.  Morton.  Dr.  Jackson  was  then  present 
for  the  first  time  on  invitation,  but  merely  as  a  spectator. 
On  the  2d  of  January,  1847,  an  operation  was  performed 
in  the  Hospital,  when  Dr.  Jackson  attended,  and  brought 
with  him  a  bag  of  oxygen  gas  to  relieve  the  patient  from 
asphyxia,  in  case  it  should  supervene.  Nothing  of  the  kind 
occurred,  and  the  g-as  was  not  used.  This  is  the  first  and 
only  act  of  Dr.  Jackson's  made  known  to  your  Committee 
which  implied  that  he  had  any  duty  to  perform  in  the 
administration  of  the  ether,  or  that  he  rested  under  any 
responsibility  as  to  its  effects. 

The  testimony  of  Don  P.  Wilson  and  J.  E.  Hunt,  who 
were  assistants  in  Dr.  Morton's  shop  for  a  few  months, 
commencing  in  November,  1846,  is  adduced  to  impeach 
the  evidence  of  Leavitt,  Spear,  and  Hayden,  by  their  al- 
leged declarations,  and  the  title  of  Dr.  Morton  to  the 
discovery,  by  his.  declarations.  This  is  a  species  of  testi- 
mony against  which  the  books  on  evidence  especially  put  us 
on  our  guard.  It  is  a  sweeping  kind  of  evidence  which 
covers  every  thing;  and,  if  the  imputed  conversation  be 
private,  or  if  it  be  general  (as  he  often  said,  or  always 
said),  it  is  often  difficult  to  subject  the  evidence  to  the 
ordinary  tests  of  surrounding  circumstances  and  inherent 
probability,  so  as  to  fix  its  value.  There  is  enough,  how- 
ever, in  these  depositions  to  show  that  they  are  of  but  little 
weight.  It  is  to  be  remembered,  in  the  first  place,  that 
they  are  in  direct  contradiction  to  the  testimony  of  Whit- 
man, Spear,  Leavitt,  and  Hayden;  and  they  contradict  by 
strong   implication   the   testimony  of  Mr.   Metcalf  and   Mr. 


CONGRESSIONAL   REPORT.  309 

Wightman,  the  character  of  all  and  each  of  whom  is  most 
satisfactorily  vouched.  The  testimony  of  these  two  witnesses 
cannot  be  true,  unless  the  four  first  above  named  entered 
into  a  conspiracy  to  carry  a  point  by  perjury  ;  but,  as  to 
them,  we  have  examined  their  evidence  —  we  have  tested 
it  by  its  agreement  with  surrounding  circumstances,  and  we 
are  satisfied  of  its  truth. 

This,  of  itself,  would  be  enough  to  dispose  of  the  testi- 
mony of  Wilson  and  Hunt ;  but  it  is  proper  to  look  at  the 
inherent  character  of  their  evidence. 

Wilson,  in  the  commencement  of  his  deposition,  swears^ 
by  way  of  recital,  that  Dr.  Charles  T.  Jackson  was  the 
discoverer  of  the  application  of  ether  to  produce  insensibility 
to  pain  in  surgical  operations  ;  and,  among  other  things,  he 
says,  "  Morton  first  claimed  the  discovei'y  to  he  his  own  " 
in  February,  1847.  To  say  nothing  of  the  looseness  and 
total  want  of  caution  with  which  the  fact  of  the  discovery 
is  stated,  —  a  fact  of  which  Mr.  Wilson  certainly  had  no 
knowledge  whatever,  —  he  testifies  directly  against  the  re- 
corded fact  in  the  second  particular ;  for  Dr.  Morton  did 
claim  the  discovery  as  early  as  September  30,  1846,  and  his 
claim  was  given  to  the  world  the  next  day  in  the  public 
prints.  His  claim,  and  his  alone,  was  known  to  the  sur- 
geons of  the  Hospital  during  the  month  of  October ;  and 
his  public  circulars,  and  the  numerous  answers  to  them, 
which  he  has  exhibited  to  the  Committee,  show  that  during 
all  that  time,  and  at  all  times,  he  claimed  the  discovery 
publicly  and  to  the  world  as  his  own.  The  witness  goes  on 
to  say  :  "  In  the  administration  of  ether,  I  was  guided  by 
and  solely  relied  upon  the  advice  and  assurances  of  Dr. 
Jackson,  received  through  Morton.  We  never  dared  to 
follow  Morton^s  own  directions" — and  adds  that,  if  they 
had,  the   consequences  would  probably  have  been  fatal,  and 


310  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

etherization  a  failure.  And  further,  that  he  never  knew 
Morton  "  ^o  apply  it  to  a  patient  in  the  office.  This  was 
from  a  most  apparent  fear  and  shunning  of  responsibility." 

Now,  as  to  the  advice  and  assurances  of  Dr.  Jackson, 
alleged  to  have  been  received  from  time  to  time  through 
Dr.  Morton,  we  have  no  reason  to  suppose  that  any  such 
repeated  intercourse  and  communication  took  place  during 
that  time,  and  we  have  no  evidence  of  the  actual  fact  of  any 
such  meeting  and  instructions.  On  the  contrary,  there  is 
evidence  of  unkind  feelings  existing  on  Dr.  Jackson's  part 
towards  Dr.  Morton  ;  and,  in  the  opinion  of  your  Commit- 
tee, the  testimony  of  Dr.  Keep  indirectly  contradicts  the 
testimony  of  Wilson  on  that  point,  and  directly  upon  each 
of  the  other  points  last  named.  Dr.  Keep's  object  and  the 
tendency  of  his  evidence  is  to  depreciate  Dr.  Morton,  but  for 
faults  the  very  reverse  of  those  with  which  he  Is  charged  by 
Wilson,  namely,  a  ^^  rash  r'ecklessness,"  instead  of  "a  most 
manifest  fear  of  responsibility  ,''^  in  administering  the  ether; 
and  he  evidently  is  impressed  with  the  belief,  and  designs  to 
let  it  be  known,  that  the  success  of  etherization  depended 
upon  his  skill  and  prudence.  He  says,  "It  was  his  (^Mor- 
ton's) joractice  during  that  time  to  administer  the  ether, 
without  any  adequate  provision  for  the  admission  of  atmos- 
pheric air ;  and,  tvhenever  ojjerations  were  performed  by 
other  persons  in  the  office  and  under  his  supervision,  he 
directed  the  application  in  the  same  way,  in  consequence  of 
which  many  of  the  operations  were  unsuccessful,  and  great 
distress  and  suffering  were  induced."  Dr.  Keep  then  states 
that  he  made  ample  provision  for  the  admission  of  atmos- 
pheric air,  and  advised  the  assistants  to  do  the  same  thing ; 
"but  they,  being  influenced  by  his  (Morton's)  directions  and 
known  wishes,  did  not  at  all  times  follow  my  advice."  Not 
a  word  is  said  by  Dr.  Keep  of  any  advice  or  directions  coming 


CONGRESSIONAL    REPORT.  311 

from  Dr.  Jackson,  which,  if  it  had  actually  occurred,  must 
have  heen  known  to  him,  and  would  have  formed  an  impor- 
tant item  in  the  current  incidents  of  the  time.  The  evidence 
of  these  two  witnesses  stands  thus.  They  were  in  the  office 
of  Dr.  Morton,  during  the  same  "thirty  days,"  —  Keep,  the 
superior;  Wilson,  the  assistant.  Keep  says  Dr.  Morton  was 
in  the  habit  of  administering  the  ether  in  a  particuhir  manner, 
and  that  he  was  i^ash  and  r'eckless.  Wilson  says  he  never 
administered  it  at  all,  and  that  he  was  timid  and  shrank 
from  responsibility.  But  the  surgeons  of  the  Hospital  agree 
with  neither  one  nor  the  other,  but  show^  that  he  repeatedly 
administered  it  in  the  Hospital  himself,  to  their  entire  satis- 
faction and  with  entire  success.  Wilson  says  the  assistants 
in  the  office  would  not  follow  the  directions  of  Dr.  Morton, 
but  relied  upon  such  as  were  brought  from  Dr.  Jackson. 
Keep  says  nothing  about  instructions  from  Dr.  Jackson,  but 
that  the  assistants  in  the  office  were  influenced  by  the  direc- 
tions and  known  wishes  of  Dr.  Morton,  so  that  his  salutary 
advice  and  remonstrances  were  often  of  no  avail.  Wilson 
says  Dr.  Morton  explained  to  him,  an  assistant  in  his  office, 
very  fully  all  the  particulars  of  the  discovery  and  patent ;  but 
to  Dr.  Keep,  his  partner,  he  extended  no  such  confidence. 
We  leave  these  two  depositions  to  be  viewed  in  their  sti-ong 
contrast ;  and  as  to  the  testimony  of  Don  P.  Wilson,  con- 
sidering its  inherent  improbability,  the  suspicious  nature  of 
the  species  of  testimony  to  which  it  belongs,  the  manner 
in  which  it  is  contradicted  directly  and  indirectly  by  the 
evidence  of  Dr.  Keep  ;  and  when  we  further  consider  that 
it  is  directly  opposed  to  the  evidence  of  Whitman,  Spear, 
Leavitt,  and  Dr.  Hayden,  and  indirectly  to  that  of  Metcalf 
and  Wightman  ;  and  that  it  is  also  in  direct  conflict  with 
numerous  public  pinnted  cards  and  notices  of  the  day,  — 
we  feel  that  we  cannot  give  it  the  slightest  weioht  or  con- 
sideration. 


312  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

The  testimony  of  John  E.  Hunt  is  subject  to  the  same 
objections  with  that  of  Don  P.  Wilson,  and  other  objections 
which  your  Committee  will  now  proceed  to  notice.  In 
order  to  bring  out  a  declaration  on  the  part  of  Spear,  that 
he  had  never  taken  the  ether,  he  represents  him  as  taking 
it  one  evening,  and,  in  the  excitement  produced  by  it, 
seizing  upon  a  countryman  present,  and  handling  him 
roughl}^  The  apology  which  Spear  makes  to  the  country- 
man is,  "  this  was  the  first  time  he  had  ever  taken  the 
ether;"  not  that  it  was  the  first  time  that  ether  so  affected 
him,  or  that  the  rudeness  was  committed  under  the  influence 
of  ether,  but  that  it  was  the  first  time  he  had  ever  taken 
ether,  —  a  fact  which  had  little  to  do  with  the  act  of  rude- 
ness, and  was  a  most  irrelevant  apology.  But  the  inquiry 
thereupon  made  by  Hunt  is  most  remarkably  inconsequent : 
he,  having  heard  Spear  say  that  it  was  the  first  time  he 
had  ever  taken  ether,  asks  iiim  if  it  "  ever  affected  him  in 
the  same  way  before."  Now,  if  he  had  been  pressing- 
Spear  with  a  cross-examination,  in  order  to  entrap  him  in 
some  important  admission,  the  inquiry  might  perhaps  have 
been  made ;  but  it  was  then  a  matter  of  no  importance 
whatever  whether  Spear  had  breathed  the  vapor  of  ether 
or  not,  and  it  becomes  in  the  highest  degree  improbable 
that  both  branches  of  the  conversation,  so  inconsistent  with 
each  other,  actually  occurred  ;  and  as  the  statement  contra- 
dicts the  testimony  of  so  many  respectable  witnesses,  and 
is  in  itself  improbable,  your  Committee  do  not  feel  bound 
to  give  it  credence.  Again  :  in  a  walk  with  Spear,  Hunt 
gets  from  him  a  full  disclosure  of  the  discovery,  and  a 
statement  that  it  belonged  to  Dr.  Jackson.  According  to 
this.  Dr.  Morton  got  the  requisite  information  and  instruc- 
tions from  Dr.  Jackson  ;  came  home  ;  tried  it  on  a  woman, 
and  it  worked  first-rate ;    and  he  had  since  then  continued 


CONGRESSIONAL    REPORT.  313 

to  use  it  under  the  directions  of  Dr.  Jackson.  The  evidence 
shows  that  Spear  well  knew  that  the  expernment  was  not 
tried  on  a  woman,  but  on  a  Tncoi,  whose  certificate  was 
read  next  day  by  hundreds  in  the  city  of  Boston.  But  the 
witness  evidently  took  this  part  of  his  story  from  the  nar- 
rative of  Don  P.  Wilson  (whose  deposition  was  taken  on 
the  same  day)  about  the  refractory  female  patient  named  in 
the  conversation  with  Dr.  Jackson  on  the  30th  of  Septem- 
ber, who  was  to  be  cheated  with  atmospheric  air,  administered 
from  a  fjas-bao-. 

From  among  the  thousands  with  whom  Dr.  Morton  com- 
municated, touching  this  discovery,  during  the  winter  of 
1846  and  '47,  some  six  or  seven,  with  whom  he  had  personal 
controversies,  testify  to  his  admissions  that  he  was  not  the 
discoverer.  They  differ  as  to  the  degrees  of  directness  and 
fulness  with  which  he  opened  the  matter  to  them ;  but  it 
will  be  found,  as  your  Committee  believe,  to  be  a  rule  in 
this  case,  having  no  exception,  that  the  more  violent  the 
hostility  of  the  individual,  the  more  fiercely  he  assailed  Dr. 
Morton's  patent,  the  more  free  Morton  became  in  his  com- 
munication, and  the  more  fully  did  he  unbosom  himself;  and 
his  statements  always  went  directly  to  defeat  his  own  claims, 
and  support  the  defence  of  the  opponent,  to  whom  he  made 
it.  For  example,  H.  S.  Payne  says  "that,  in  the  early  part 
of  December,  1846,  he  commenced  applying  the  vapor  of 
ether  to  produce  insensibility  to  pain  in  surgical  operations. 
This  was  after  I  had  heard  of  the  discovery  of  the  preparation 
by  Charles  T.  Jackson,  of  the  city  of  Boston."  He  then 
states  that  Dr.  Clarke  purchased  of  Dr.  Morton  a  right, 
under  the  patent,  for  Rensselaer  and  several  adjoining  coun- 
ties, who  sold  to  Dr.  Bordell,  and  Dr.  Payne  was  notified  by 
Dr.  Blake,  as  the  agent  of  Dr.  Morton,  to  abandon  the  use 
of  ether    in  his   practice.      After    failing   in   an   attempt   at 

40 


314  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

negotiation  with  Dr.  Bordell,  he  went  to  Boston,  and  had 
an  interview  with  Dr.  Morton,  who  not  once  only,  but 
repeatedly,  declared  that  Dr.  Jackson  was  the  sole  dis- 
coverer; "that  all  the  knowledge  he  possessed  in  relation 
to  its  properties  and  application  came  from  Dr.  Jackson  ; 
and  that  he  never  had  any  idea  of  applying  sulphuric  ether, 
or  that  sulphuric  ether  could  be  applied,  for  the  aforesaid 
purposes,  until  Dr.  Jackson  had  suggested  it  to  him,  and 
had  given  him  full  instructions."  This  most  frank  communi- 
cation raises  at  once  a  difficulty  about  the  patent,  which  is 
obviously  void  if  that  statement  be  true  ;  and  Dr.  ISIorton 
attempts  to  remove  it  by  saying,  "  that  he  had  been  very  for- 
tunnte  in  effecting  an  arrangement  with  Dr.  Jackson  before 
any  one  else  had  the  opportunity,  and  that  he  was  the  first 
man  to  whom  Dr.  Jackson  communicated  the  discovery." 
And  he  adds  :  "  Dr.  Morton  again  and  again  said  that  he 
was  not  in  any  way  the  discoverer  of  the  new  application  of 
ether,  but  that  the  idea  had  been  first  communicated  to 
him  by  Dr.  Jachson,  who  was  its  discoverer,  and  that  his 
(^Dr.  3Iorton^s)  ijiterest  in  the  patent  was  merehj  a  pur- 
chased one;  and,  moreover,  that  he  was  very  lucJcy  in 
anticipating  all  other  persons  by  first  receiving  so  pre- 
cious a  discovery  from  the  lips  of  Dr.  Jachson." 

After  seeing  the  fulness  and  unreserved  character  of  this 
important  conversation,  and  the  apparent  earnestness  with 
which  Dr.  Morton  attempts  to  impress  the  flict  that  he  had 
no  participation  whatever  in  the  discovery  ;  not  satisfied  with 
suffering  it  to  escape  him  inadvertently,  or  even  stating  it 
once,  but  repeating  it  "again"  and  "again,"  as  if  he  were 
anxious  to  impress  it,  —  one  could  not  but  be  surprised  to 
know  that  Dr.  Payne,  before  this  conversation,  had  pirated 
this  discovery  ;  had  set  up  for  himself;  bade  defiance  to  Dr. 
Morton  and  his  assignees  ;    and,  on   his  return   home,  pub- 


CONGRESSIONAL    REPORT.  315 

lislied  a  card,  in  which  he  by  no  means  denies  that  Dr. 
Morton  discovered  the  thing  which  he  and  his  assignees  are 
using,  but  averring  that  his  (Dr.  Payne's)  anodyne  vajJor, 
wliich  in  his  affidavit  he  admits  to  be  sulphuric  ether,  "is 
not  the  invention  of  the  great  Dr.  Morton,  but  an  entirely 
superior  article,  and  all  persons  must  beware  how  they 
infringe  on  his  rights."  And  the  more  especially  is  it  sur- 
prising when  we  reflect  that  this  state  of  facts,  which  Dr. 
Morton  took  such  unusual  pains  to  repeat  and  to  impress 
upon  this  his  most  determined  opponent,  would,  if  true, 
render  the  patent  wholly  void  in  his  hands,  and  put  his 
discovery  entirely  in  the  power  of  Dr.  Payne,  and  all  others 
who  sliould  see  fit  to  avail  themselves  of  it.  There  can  be 
no  absolute  proof  that  Dr.  Morton  did  not  make  these  state- 
ments ;  but  it  is  clear  that  it  was  against  his  interest  to  make 
them  ;  and  there  is  also  full  proof  that  they  are  not  true, 
and  that  they  are  in  direct  opposition  to  his  numerous  printed 
and  published  statements.  They  are  not  true  ;  for,  besides 
the  six  witnesses  who  testify  directly  or  indirectly  to  the 
discovery  in  its  inception  and  progress,  it  distinctly  conflicts 
with  the  conversation  of  the  parties,  and  their  mutual  under- 
standing on  the  26th  and  27th  of  October,  as  testified  to 
by  R.  H.  Eddy.  It  is  in  direct  conflict  with  the  claim 
promulgated  by  Dr.  Morton,  and  received  and  accredited 
by  the  scientific  gentlemen  in  the  Medical  Hospital,  who 
performed  the  operations  testing  the  efficacy  of  the  dis- 
covery. 

Dr.  Warren  says  :  — 

"  Boston,  Jan.  6,  1847. 

"  I  hereby  declare  and  certify,  to  the  best  of  my  knowledge  and  recol- 
lection, that  I  never  heard  of  the  use  of  sulphuric  ether  by  inhalation,  as 
a  means  of  preventing  the  pains  of  surgical  operations,  until  it  was  sug- 
gested by  Br.  W.  T.  G.  MoHon,  in  the  latter  part  of  October,  1846." 


316  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

And  alike  opposed  to  all  the  numerous  jjrinted  circulars 
which  Mr.  Morton  and  his  agents  had  distributed  and  were 
then  distributing  in  every  part  of  the  United  States.  It 
appears  that,  prior  to  this  date,  Dr.  Morton's  attention  had 
been  called  to  an  opposing  claim  to  the  discovery,  and  to 
the  experiments  at  the  Hospital,  and  he  had  taken  a  decided 
public  stand  against  them,  as  witness  his  circular,  published 
the  20th  day  of  November,  184G,  and  the  note  thereto 
attached  :  — 

"  DENTAL     OPERATIONS    WITHOUT     PAIN. 

'•^ Dr.  Morton  has  made  a  great  improvement  in  dental  and  surgical 
operations,  for  which  letters-iiatent  have  been  granted  by  the  Government 
of  the  United  States,  and  to  secure  which  measures  have  been  taken  in 
foreign  nations. 

"  Having  completed  the  necessary  preparations  for  the  purpose,  and 
greatly  enlarged  his  establishment,  Dr.  Morton  respectfully  announces  to 
his  friends  and  the  public  that  he  is  now  ready  to  afibrd  every  accommoda- 
tion to  persons  requiring  dental  operations. 

"  His  assistants  and  apartments  are  so  numerous,  and  his  entire 
arrangements  on  so  superior  a  scale,  that  immediate  and  the  best 
attention  can  be  given  to  every  case,  and  in  every  branch  of  liis  pro- 
fession. 

"  The  success  of  this  improvement  has  exceeded  the  most  sanguine 
expectations,  not  only  of  himself  and  patients,  but  of  the  very  skilful 
and  distinguished  surgeons  who  have  performed  operations  with  it  at 
the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital  and  other  places  in  Boston,  or 
witnessed  its  use  at  his  office.     Rooms,  No.  19,  Tremont  Row. 

"  Boston,  Nov.  20,  18-i6. 

"  *^*  Inasmuch  as  one  or  two  persons  have  presumed  to  advertise  my 
improvement  as  their  own,  and  even  issued  notices  to  the  effect  that  the 
applications  of  it  at  the  Hospital  were  made  hy  them,  and  that  the  certifi- 
cates of  its  efficacy  and  value  were  given  to  them  by  the  SUKGEONS  of 
THAT  INSTITUTION,  I  fccl  it  my  duty  to  warn  the  public  against  such 
false  and  unwarrantable  statements ;  and  at  the  same  time  to  caution  all 
persons  against  making,  aiding,  or  abetting  in  any  infringement  of  my 
rights,  if  they  would  avoid  Ihe  trouble  and  cost  of  prosecutions  and 
damages  at  law." 


CONGRESSIONAL    REPORT.  317 

And  your  Committee  do  not  tliink  it  credible  that  Dr. 
Morton,  resting  his  chaims  to  the  discovery  on  the  grounds 
wliich  he  did,  —  having  a  most  decided  public  opinion  at 
home  in  his  favor  as  the  discoverer,  —  having  freshly  tasted 
of  the  intoxicating  draught  of  fame,  and  recently,  in  the 
public  papers  and  in  circulars,  asserted  his  authorship  of  the 
discovery  and  defied  his  rivals,  —  they  do  not  think  it  credible 
that  he  should  seize  the  first  occasion  which  offered,  in  con- 
versation with  a  most  determined  opponent,  to  declare  the 
falsehood  of  all  that  he  had  written,  published,  and  claimed; 
to  disclaim  the  honor  which  the  world  so  generally  and 
freely  accorded  him  ;  confess  away  all  his  pecuniary  rights 
under  the  patent ;  and  even  support  his  surrender,  dis- 
claimer, and  sacrifice,  by  a  self-debasing  assertion  which  he 
well  knew  was  false.  The  improbability  is  too  strong  to 
allow  it  credit. 

But  Dr.  Payne  says,  that,  in  the  early  part  of  December, 
1846,  he  commenced  his  operations  with  sulphuric  ether; 
and  that  this  was  after  he  had  heard  of  the  discovery  of  Dr. 
Charles  T.  Jackson,  of  Boston.  How  he  heard  of  the 
discovery  of  Dr.  Jackson,  he  does  not  say ;  surely  not  by 
the  information  of  the  scientific  men  of  Boston,  for  they 
attributed  the  discovery  to  Dr.  Morton  ;  not  by  the  public 
prints,  cards,  and  advertisement,  for  the  name  of  Dr.  Mor- 
ton alone  appeared  there  ;  and  he  says,  in  conclusion,  that  he 
was  very  much  astonished  in  learning,  some  time  after  his 
visit  to  Boston,  that  Dr.  Morton  "asserted  any  claim  what- 
ever "  to  the  discovery ;  and  this  after  the  publication  and 
circulation  of  the  notices,  cards,  and  circulars  of  Dr.  Morton, 
and  after  the  witness  had  long  been  engaged  in  an  embittered 
contest  with  Morton  and  his  assignees,  and  the  publication 
of  his  (Dr.  Payne's)  card. 

Dr.  Allen  Clarke  —  who  also  testifies  to  admissions  by  Dr. 


318  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

Morton,  but  much  less  strongly  than  Dr.  Payne,  and  whose 
statement  may  well  be  the  result  of  a  misunderstanding, 
made  the  more  decided  by  hostility  to  Dr.  Morton,  and  a 
desire  to  defeat  his  patent  —  was  the  purchaser  of  a  right, 
for  which  he  gave  his  note  for  $3,350.  He  at  length  deter- 
mined not  to  pay  the  note,  but  to  join  in  contesting  the 
patent;  and  he  expresses  the  opinion,  that,  by  keeping  up 
the  controversy  for  one  year,  the  patent  would  be  broken 
down.  Dr.  Blaisdell  says:  ''Clarke  would  not  pay  you; 
for  he  could  get  the  use  of  the  letheon  for  one  year,  before 
you  could  get  the  license  from  them,  and  by  that  time  they 
could  ruin  the  sale  of  it  there,"  and  he  might  well  have 
added,  and  with  it  the  discoverer  ;  a  very  common  fortune 
to  men  who  render  the  most  important  services  to  their 
race. 

Time,  and  the  reasonable  limits  of  a  report,  will  not  allow 
your  Committee  to  dwell  upon  the  few  remaining  items  of 
kindred  testiuiony.  The  weight  and  strength  of  them  have 
been  considered  ;  and  the  residue,  like  them,  are  composed 
of  alleged  statements  by  Dr.  Morton  to  persons  with  whom 
he  then  had  or  has  since  had  personal  controversies  touching 
his  discovery,  and  they  are  all  in  contradiction  to  the  claims 
which  Dr.  Morton  daily  promulgated  in  print  to  the  world. 
Those  printed  papei-s  are,  as  your  Committee  conceive,  the 
best  evidence  of  what  Dr.  Morton  all  that  time  claimed, 
and  what  he  conceded ;  they  are  of  the  time  and  of  the 
transaction  ;  they  do  not  admit  of  misstatement,  miscon- 
struction, or  falsification  ;  they  are  of  unvarying  and  exact 
memory  ;  and  they  speak  the  language  of  undoubted  truth 
as  to  the  claims,  though  not  as  to  the  rights,  of  the  author. 
His  claims,  contemporaneous  with  these  papers,  are  what 
these  witnesses  attack.  His  rights  we  have  already  con- 
sidered ;    and,  as   to  the  evidence  of  his  claims,  that  which 


CONGRESSIONAL    REPORT.  319 

he  insisted  and  said  was  his,  the  published  papers  stand 
against  the  testimony  of  these  witnesses,  as  written  or 
printed  evidence  against  parol.  His  alleged  confessions, 
made  under  the  most  improbable  circumstances,  are  in 
direct  contradiction  to  his  printed  circulars,  daily  and  con- 
temporaneously promulgated  to  the  world.  If,  then,  these 
alleged  parol  admissions  stood  against  the  printed  and  pub- 
lished papers,  without  any  thing  beside  to  add  strength  to 
either,  we  could  not,  in  our  conscience,  in  weighing  the 
conduct  of  men  by  rational  probabilities,  hesitate  to  give  the 
decided  preponderance  to  the  printed  over  the  parol  evi- 
dence. But  the  parol  evidence  runs  counter  to  all  the  leading 
facts  in  the  case  heretofore  considered  and  established,  in 
the  opinion  of  your  Committee,  by  the  most  indubitable 
proof;  while  the  printed  circulars  and  notices  entirely  agree 
with  them,  and  make  with  them  one  uniform  and  consistent 
whole.  The  objects  of  the  parties,  their  claims,  their  efforts, 
their  purposes,  are  the  same  throughout.  The  deposition 
of  A.  Blaisdell  is,  however,  worthy  of  especial  comment. 
At  the  time  he  professes  to  have  had  the  conversation  in 
which  Dr.  Morton  accords  all  the  merit  of  the  discovery 
to  Dr.  Jackson,  he  was  the  agent  of  Dr.  Morton,  spreading 
his  circulars  throughout  the  land  ;  had  taken  care  to  send 
one  of  them  to  each  and  every  surgeon-dentist  in  New 
York ;  and  yet  now  declares  that  he  was  especially  charged 
with  the  information  which  he  takes  care  to  inculcate,  that 
these  circulars  were  all  false  in  the  most  material  point,  and 
that  the  patent  which  he  is  selling  is  void  by  reason  of  that 
falsehood.  He  was,  at  the  same  time,  in  habits  of  almost 
daily  correspondence  with  Dr.  Morton  ;  and  the  difficulties 
which  he  met  with  occurred  while  he  was  absent,  and  it 
would  most  naturally  have  suggested  itself  to  him  to  com- 
municate them  to   Dr.  Morton   by  letter,  and   in   that  way 


320  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

get  his  assent  to  obviate  them  by  declaring  Dr.  Jackson  the 
sole  discoverei'.  But  he  does  not  do  so  :  if  he  had,  his 
letter  and  Dr.  Morton's  answer  would  have  been  in  writ- 
ing;  and  then,  if  there  were  truth  in  the  statement  of  those 
alleged  admissions,  there  would  have  been  one  item  of 
written  evidence  to  support  them.  But  this  is  wholly 
wanting.  Blaisdell  professes  to  have  waited  till  his  return 
to  Boston,  and  then  to  have  held  a  private  conversation 
with  Dr.  Morton,  who  at  once  and  eagerly  admitted  away 
his  whole  claim,  both  to  money  and  reputation. 

It  is  remarkable  that,  in  more  than  three  months,  during 
all  which  time  these  witnesses  say  Dr.  Morton  conceded  to 
Dr.  Jackson  the  merit  of  being  the  "  sole  discoverer,"  and 
during  all  which  time  he  was  daily  writing  and  almost  daily 
publishing,  there  is  not  produced  one  line  written  by  Dr. 
Morton,  or  written  to  him,  countenancing  the  idea;  nor  is 
there  one  act  of  his  which  looks  to  such  admission.  A 
written  admission  or  an  ambiguous  paragraph  in  writing, 
which  could  be  fairly  construed  into  an  admission,  or  a 
letter  written  to  him  during  that  time,  which  could  be 
reasonably  construed  to  refer  to  such  admission,  would  be 
tenfold  the  value  of  all  the  pai'ol  testimony  now  presented 
of  those  admissions.  Dr.  Morton  has  shown  to  the  Com- 
mittee several  bound  volumes  of  letters  addressed  to  him 
upon  this  subject,  all  of  wiiich  recognize  him  as  the  dis- 
coverer. Viewing  these  statements  in  this  point  of  light ; 
comparing  them  with  the  printed  and  published  papers, 
in  which  Dr.  Morton  contemporaneously  and  continually 
asserted  his  claims  to  the  discovery  ;  and  finding  them  op- 
posed, as  they  are  to  the  well-settled  facts  of  the  case 
already  considered,  —  they  weigh,  in  our  opinion,  as  dust 
in  the  balance,  and  in  nowise  affect  the  well-settled  facts 
of  the  case. 


CONGRESSIONAI;    REPORT.  321 

Considering  the  case  presented  on  its  own  merits,  and 
independent  of  any  authority  whatever,  your  Committee 
lias  come  to  the  same  conclusion  that  was  arrived  at  by 
the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Massachusetts  General  Hos- 
pital, at  their  annual  meeting  in  January,  1848,  and  sub- 
sequently confirmed  in  1849  ;  and  they  cannot  better  state 
the  propositions,  which  they  consider  established,  than  by 
adopting  to  this  extent  the  language  of  the  report  of  that 
institution.  It  is  as  follows :  "  1st,  Dr.  Jackson  does 
not  appear  at  any  time  to  have  made  any  discovery,  in 
regard  to  ether,  which  was  not  in  print  in  Great  Britain 
some  years  before.  2d,  Dr.  Morton,  in  1846,  discovered 
the  facts,  before  unknown,  that  ether  would  prevent  the 
pain  of  surgical  operations,  and  that  it  might  be  given  in 
sufficient  quantity  to  effect  this  purpose  without  danger  to 
life.  He  first  established  these  fiicts  by  numerous  operations 
on  teeth,  and  afterwards  induced  the  surgeons  of  the  Hos- 
pital to  demonstrate  its  general  applicability  and  importance 
in  capital  operations.  3d,  Dr.  Jackson  appears  to  have  had 
the  belief,  that  a  power  in  ether  to  prevent  pain  in  dental 
operations  would  be  discovered.  He  advised  various  per- 
sons to  attempt  the  discovery  :  but  neither  they  nor  he  took 
any  measures  to  that  end  ;  and  the  world  remained  in  entire 
ignorance  of  both  the  power  and  safety  of  ether,  until  Dr. 
Morton  made  his  experiments.  4th,  The  whole  agency 
of  Dr.  Jackson  in  the  matter  appears  to  consist  only  in 
his  havinor  made  certain  suggestions,  which  led  or  aided 
Dr.  Morton  to  make  the  discovery,  —  a  discovery  which 
had  for  some  time  been  the  object  of  his  labors  and  re- 
searches." 

And  although  your  Committee  have  deduced  their  con- 
clusion from  the  evidence,  without  resting  on  opinion  or 
authority,  they  are  greatly  strengthened   by  the  concurrence 

41 


322  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

of  that  highly  intelligent  and  scientific  body  of  men  who 
examined  the  subject  on  the  spot,  while  the  transaction  was 
yet  recent,  and  who  were  acquainted  with  the  conduct  of 
the  parties  during  the  progress  of  the  discovery,  and  with 
the  character  of  the  witnesses.  Tliis  conclusion  being  reached 
as  to  the  exact  state  of  fact,  your  Committee  are  satisfied 
thereon  that  Dr.  Morton  is  entitled  to  the  merit  of  the 
discovery.  The  great  thought  loas  of  producing  insensi- 
bility to  pain;  and  the  discovery  consisted  in  that  thought, 
and  in  verifying  it  practically  by  experiment.  For  this 
the  world  is  indebted  to  Dr.  Morton  ;  and  even  if  the  same 
thought  in  all  its  distinctness  and  extent  arose  also  in  the 
mind  of  Dr.  Jackson,  at  or  prior  to  that  time,  yet  he  did 
not  carry  it  out  by  experiment,  and  thus  give  it  to  the  world  ; 
and  on  that  supposition  it  was  the  case  of  an  important 
thought  occupying  two  minds  at  the  same  time,  one  only  of 
whom  brought  it  out  by  experiment,  and  is  therefore  the  dis- 
coverer. It  was  clear  that  the  discovery  was  destined  soon 
to  be  given  to  the  world.  Science  had  almost  reached  it ; 
but  a  single  step,  and  it  was  compassed  ;  and  it  happened 
in  this  case,  as  in  many  others,  that  the  necessities  of  the 
profession,  a  want  deeply  felt  in  the  daily  business  of  life, 
rather  than  scientific  induction,  at  last  pi'oduced  the  con- 
summation. 

That  it  is  a  discovery  toe  cannot  doubt;  that  it  is  an 
advance  beyond  the  heretofore  known  walks  of  science, 
we  know  ;  and  scientific  men  of  all  civilized  nations,  even 
to  the  extremities  of  the  earth,  acknowledge  and  proclaim 
it. 

As  to  the  question  whether  a  sum  of  money  shall  be 
appropriated  by  Congress  as  a  reward  for  this  discovery, 
your  Committee  beg  leave  to  refer  that  subject  to  the  con- 
sideration  of  this  House.     Numerous  cases,  however,  have 


CONGRESSIONAL    REPORT. 


323 


occiuTed,  to  which  your  Committee  beg  leave  to  refer,  in 
which  compensation  in  money  has  been  made  by  Congress 
as  a  reward  for  like  discoveries  of  less  importance  to  the 
country  and    mankind.  ..... 

This  discovery  is  the  long-sought  desideratum  of  sur- 
geons. His  sinking  heart,  when  witnessing  the  writhings 
and  agonies  of  his  patients,  has  looked  to  this  as  a  con- 
summation devoutly  to  be  desired.  Various  narcotics  have 
been  employed.  Mesmerism,  and  its  kindred  neurology, 
were  tendered  as  this  great  boon  ;  but  they  have  passed, 
and  with  them  the  expectations  of  the  profession,  and  the 
promises  of  their  discoverers.  Dr.  J.  C.  Warren,  page  3, 
in  his  work  on  Etherization,  says,  "A  new  era  has  opened 
on  the  operating  surgeon.  His  visitations  on  the  most 
delicate  parts  are  performed,  not  only  without  the  agoniz- 
ing screams  he  has  been  accustomed  to  hear,  but  sometimes 
with  a  state  of  perfect  insensibility,  and  occasionally  even 
with  the  expression  of  pleasure  on  the  part  of  the  patient. 
Who  could  have  imagined  that  drawing  a  knife  over  the 
delicate  skin  of  the  face  might  produce  a  sensation  of  un- 
mixed delio;ht?  —  that  the  turnin"^  and  twistins;  of  instru- 
ments  in  the  most  sensitive  bladder  might  be  accompanied 
by  a  beautiful  dream?  —  that  the  contorting  of  anchylosed 
joints  should  co-exist  with  a  celestial  vision?  If  Ambrose 
Pare  and  Louis  and  Dessault  and  Cheshelden  and  Hunter 
and  Cooper  could  see  what  our  eyes  daily  witness,  how 
would  they  long  to  come  among  us,  and  perform  their  ex- 
ploits once  more !  And  with  what  fresh  vigor  does  the 
living  surgeon,  who  is  ready  to  resign  the  scalpel,  grasp 
it,  and  wish  again  to  go  through  his  career  under  the  new 
auspices  !  " 

We  quote  also  from  the  same :  "  In  order  to  form  a 
proper  estimate  of  the  value  of  the  new  practice,  we  should 


324  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

endeavor  to  realize  the  mental  condition  which  precedes  a 
surgical  operation.  As  soon  as  a  patient  is  condemned  to 
the  knife,  what  terrors  does  his  imagination  inflict !  How 
many  sleepless  nights,  and  horrible  dreams,  and  sinkings 
of  the  heart  does  he  experience  !  What  apprehensions  of 
dangerous  bleedings,  of  wounds  of  vital  parts,  and  even 
of  sudden  death,  does  he  paint  to  himself!  And  when  to 
these  is  added  the  dread  of  insupportable  pain,  what  a 
frightful  })icture  presents  itself  to  the  mind  !  No  wonder 
that  many  persons  are  unable  to  bring  themselves  to  sub- 
mit;  no  wonder  that  some,  wrought  to  desperation,  are  led 
to  anticipate  their  sufferings  by  a  voluntary  death.  Horror 
of  the  knife  led  a  gentleman  in  this  city,  afflicted  with  a 
stone  in  the  bladder,  to  commit  suicide.  When  the  terror 
of  corporeal  suffering  is  taken  from  this  load  of  appre- 
hension, the  patient  may  Indulge  a  hope  which  leads  him 
cheerfully  to  uncertain  dangers." 

In  reply  to  connnunications  addressed  to  the  Surgeon- 
General  of  the  Army,  and  Chief  of  the  Medical  Department 
of  the  Navy,  we  learn  that  chloroform  and  ether  are  used 
in  both  these  dej)artments,  and  that  they  constitute  in  part 
the  sup[)lies  fur  the  service,  and  have  been  used  during  the 
recent  war  with  Mexico.  This  would,  In  justice,  entitle 
the  memorialist  to  compensation,  as  the  laws  of  the  United 
States  guaranty  to  him  all  benefits  in  its  use  by  all  persons. 
Had  we  not  already  exceeded  the  usual  limits  of  a  report, 
we  would  gladly  introduce  numerous  testimonials  of  the 
advantageous  use  of  anaesthetic  agents  In  various  diseases, 
besides  those  subject  to  surgery.  And  we  deem  the  sub- 
joined tables,  showing  its  introduction  into  the  hospitals  of 
the  United  States,  will  give  a  general  idea  of  the  usefulness 
of  the  discovery,  and  its  general  applicability  to  disease. 
They   are    taken    from    the    Transactions    of   the   American 


CONGRESSIONAL    REPORT.  325 

Medical  Association,  assembled  in  Baltimore  in  May,  1848. 
[Tlie  tables  are  here  omitted.] 

The  effects  of  chlorofurm  and  ether  are  similar ;  each 
has  its  advocates  ;  yet  your  Committee  are  assured,  that, 
amongst  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  cases  of  various 
diseases  in  which  ether  has  been  used,  no  case  has  termi- 
nated fatally,  in  which  any  injurious  effect  could  be  traced 
to  ether.  We  cannot  assert  the  same  for  chloroform.  The 
effects  of  ether  are  more  readily  controlled,  and  its  strength 
is  supposed  to  be  but  one-tenth  that  of  chloroform. 

As  citizens  of  the  United  States,  we  feel  we  have  just 
cause  of  pride,  that  this  discovery,  the  most  important  in 
science,  had  its  origin  on  our  shores  ;  and  that  its  general 
adoption  by  the  European  world,  numerous  admissions  of 
the  discovery  here  and  its  usefulness,  are  alike  honorable  to 
the  recipients  of  its  favors  and  the  discoverer.  Professor 
Simpson,  the  discoverer  of  chloroform,  in  transmitting  to 
Dr.  Morton  a  copy  of  a  pamphlet,  entitled  "Account  of 
a  New  Anjesthetic  Agent,  as  a  Substitute  for  Sulphuric 
Ether  in  Surgery  and  Midwifery,'"  writes  the  following  note. 
[This  note  is  copied  into  pp.  246,  247.] 

We  close  our  communication  with  an  extract  from  the 
work  on  Etherization  by  Dr.  J.  C.  Warren,  a  name  confess- 
edly among  the  first  in  the  United  States  in  the  department 
of  medicine  and  surgery  :  — 

"  This  discovery  certainly  merits  a  notice  from  the  American  Legisla- 
ture, since  it  may  take  rank  perhaps  of  all  the  great  improvements  which 
adorn  the  present  age  of  surgery.  The  establishment  of  union  by  the 
first  intention,  the  safe  ligature  of  the  great  arteries,  the  substitution  of 
lithotrity  for  lithotomy,  the  rejection  of  pernicious  ointments  and  plasters 
in  the  management  of  wounds,  the  constitutional  treatment  of  local  dis- 
eases, and  the  free  external  use  of  cold  water,  mark  the  present  as  the 
golden  period  of  surgical  science. 


326  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

"  The  introduction  of  ether,  enabling  us  to  perform  operations  and 
apply  remedies  Avithout  pain,  crowns  all  these  improvements. 

"  While  we  would  pay  a  Avilling  and  liberal  tribute  to  the  individual 
who  has  been  made  the  instrument  of  this  discovery,  we  should  look 
higher  for  its  author,  and  elevate  our  fervent  attributions  of  praise  and 
thanksgiving  to  Him  who  has  been  pleased,  from  the  rich  treasures  of 
his  goodness,  to  confer  so  wonderful  a  gift  on  our  generation." 

The  subjoined  resolutions  were  ordered  to  be  appended 
to  the  report. 

Dr.  Lord  offered  the  following  resolutions,  which  were 
adopted  :  — 

'■^Resolved,  That,  the  Committee  having  refused  to  recommend  any 
remuneration  to  be  given  to  the  contestants  of  the  ether-discovery,  the 
report  of  the  Committee  be  made  in  conformity  to  the  above  decision. 

^'  Besolved,  That,  believing  the  report  of  the  chairman  does  fairly 
express  the  opinions  of  the  Committee,  and  the  real  views  as  embodied 
in  the  resolutions  of  Dr.  Fries,  herewith  published,  it  is  hereby  adopted 
as  the  report  of  the  Committee." 

Dr.  Fries  offered  the  following  resolutions,  which  were 
adopted :  — 

"  Fiesoloed,  That,  in  the  opinion  of  this  Committee,  to  Dr.  C.  T.  Jack- 
son is  due  the  credit  of  having  suggested  to  Dr.  W.  T.  G.  Morton  that 
pure  sulphuric  ether  might  be  inhaled  with  safety,  and  that  the  effect  of 
such  inhalation  is  to  produce  insensibility;  but  that,  in  expressing  this 
opinion,  the  Committee  do  not  Avish  to  convey  the  idea  that  Dr.  Morton 
had  not  previously  experimented  with  this  important  agent,  but  refer  to 
the  strong  i)roof  herewith  published,  for  the  evidence  that  he  had  thus 
exj)erimented. 

''Resolved,  That  to  Dr.  W.  T.  G.  Morton  is  due  the  credit  of  having 
made  the  first  practical  application  of  sulphuric  ether  as  an  anaesthetic 
agent,  and  demonstrating  to  the  world  its  power  to  destroy  nervous 
sensibility  to  such  an  extent  as  to  enable  surgeons  to  perform  all  the 
various  surgical  operations  upon  tlie  human  body  without  pain.' 

[And  two  other  resolutions,  which  relate  only  to  not  having 
kept  a  journal  of  proceedings.] 


CONGRESSIONAL    REPORT.  327 

Note.  —  During-  the  preparation  of  this  report,  there  was 
forvvardfi  lo  the  Committee  tlie  affidavit  of  Henry  C.  Lord, 
one  of  the  counsel  for  Dr.  Jackson,  and  also  the  affidavit  of 
George  H.  Palmer,  and  one  by  Dr.  Jackson  himself,  from 
which  it  appears  that  Mr.  Lord,  the  counsel,  called  upon 
Thomas  E..  Spear,  —  induced  Spear  to  visit  him  at  his 
chamber,  and  held  a  conversation  with  him  ;  and  that  his 
effi)rt  in  that  conversation  was  to  get  some  admission  from 
Spear,  that  his  testimony,  given  under  oath  in  the  case,  was 
untrue.  Lord  and  Palmer  say  that  he  did  so  admit.  The 
witness  Spear,  who  was  afterwards  called  upon,  testifies 
that  he  did  not,  and  states  facts  which  show  an  effort  to 
entrap  him  in  a  mode  not  usually  practised  by  the  legal 
profession  in  the  United  States.  Your  Committee  give  no 
weight  to  the  alleoed  statements,  considering  the  manner 
in  which  they  were  procured,  even  as  stated  by  Mr.  Lord 
himself.  There  was  a  like  attempt  to  get  a  contradictory 
statement  from  Leavitt,  similar  in  its  character  with  that 
made  with  Spear,  but  more  strongly  marked  by  professional 
irregularity.  These  depositions  in  no  respect  modified  the 
opinion  of  your  Committee  as  to  the  facts  given  in  question, 
and  only  present  another  most  striking  example  of  the  cau- 
tion with  which  testimony  of  the  declarations  of  parties  and 
witnesses  should  be  received  unsupported,  and  especially 
when   contradicted   by  written   papers. 

There  was  also  forwarded  to  us  the  deposition  of  N.  C. 
Keep,  which  Is  in  the  following  words  :  — 

"  Commonwealth   of   Massachusetts,  Suffolk,  ss. 

"I,  N.  C.  Keep,  M.D.,  of  Boston,  in  the  County  of  Suffolk,  and 
Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts,  dental  surgeon,  being  called  upon 
by  the  Hon.  Thomas  O.  Edwards,  Chairman  of  a  Committee  at  Wash- 
ington,  on   patenting    compound   medicines,  to   give   my  testimony  in 


328  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

the  matter  in  hearing  concerning  the  claims  of  Dr.  W.  T.  G.  ^lorton 
as  the  discoverer  of  etherization,  depose  as  follows :  — 

"  I  became  associated  in  the  bnsiness  and  practice  of  dentistry  with 
Dr.  Morton,  on  the  twenty-eighth  day  of  November,  in  the  year  1846. 
On  the  next  day,  we  were  about  to  prepare  an  advertisement  for 
publication,  when  Dr.  Augustus  A.  Gould  called  at  our  rooms.  Being 
pressed  with  business,  I  requested  him  to  write  the  advertisement ;  with 
which  request  he  complied.  After  he  had  written  it,  which  he  did  at 
his  own  house,  he  brought  it  to  me,  and  we  read  it  together.  In  it  the 
discovery  of  etherization,  without  any  suggestion  having  been  made  by 
me  to  that  effect,  was  ascribed  in  explicit  terms  to  Dr.  Charles  T.  Jack- 
son. Dr.  Gould,  pointing  with  his  finger  to  the  words  in  which  this 
ascription  was  expressed,  said  to  me,  '  That  will  please  Jackson.'  I 
then  showed  the  advertisement  to  Dr.  Morton,  and  we  read  it  together. 
He  then  exclaimed  with  emphasis,  '  That  is  good  ;  I  like  that.  Pll  take 
it  to  the  printer.'  Copies  of  the  advertisement  were  made  imder  the 
direction  of  Dr.  Morton,  and,  as  I  supposed  at  the  time,  without  altera- 
tion, and  published  by  his  order  in  three  evening  newspapers.  On 
seeing  the  advertisement  in  the  'Evening  Traveller'  on  the  evening  of 
the  same  day,  I  was  greatly  surprised  to  find  that  the  words  which 
ascribed  the  ether-discovery  to  Dr.  Jackson  had  been  struck  out.  The 
next  morning  I  called  the  attention  of  Dr.  Morton  to  the  fact,  and  asked 
him  why  he  struck  out  those  words.  He  hesitated,  and  seemed  not  to 
know  what  to  say,  when  I  said  to  him,  '  Morton,  why  do  you  quarrel 
with  Jackson?  You  injure  yourself,  and  injure  the  cause.'  His  reply 
was,  '  I  wouldn't  if  he  would  behave  himself.  The  credit  of  the  dis- 
covery belongs  to  Dr.  Jackson ;  Jackson  shall  have  the  credit  of  it ;  I 
want  to  make  money  out  of  it.' 

"  I  stated  the  foregoing  facts  to  my  fiimily  on  the  aforesaid  evening, 
and  afterwards  to  other  individuals.  I  have  heretofoi-e  declined  volun- 
tarily testifying  to  them,  but  consider  that  I  have  no  right,  upon  a 
call  of  such  a  nature  as  is  now  made  upon  me,  to  withhold  this  testi- 
mony. 

"N.  C.  Keep." 

"Boston,  Feb.  8,  1849." 

When  this  deposition  was  received,  the  Chairman  of  your 
Committee  showed  it  to  Dr.  Morton,  who  in  a  few  minutes 
brought    to    him    a    bound    book,    entitled    "  Miscelhineous 


THE    CASKET    AND    THE    RIBBON.  329 

Notes/'  On  the  91st  page  was  a  manuscript  in  the  hand- 
writing of  Dr.  A.  A.  Gould,  written  evidently  on  the 
outside  sheet  of  a  letter  addressed  to  Dr.  A.  A.  G.,  and  post- 
marked "  AVashington  City,  D.C.,  July  9,"  from  all  which 
it  was  most  manifest  that  this  was  the  original  draft  of  the 
advertisement  testified  to  by  Dr.  Keep.  This  paper,  con- 
trasted with  the  evidence  of  Dr.  Keep  as  the  contents  of 
an  original  draft,  fixes  in  the  minds  of  your  Committee 
the  just  value  of  this  species  of  evidence.  This  paper  is 
as  follows  :  — 

"The  subscribers,  having  associated  themselves  in  the  business  of 
dental  surgery,  would  respectfully  invite  their  friends  to  call  on  them 
at  their  rooms.  No.  19,  Tremont  Row.  They  confidently  believe  that 
the  increased  facilities  which  their  united  experience  will  afford  them 
of  performing  operations  with  elegance  and  despatch,  and  the  additional 
advantage  of  having  them  performed  without  pain,  by  the  use  of  the 
fluid  recently  invented  by  Drs.  Jackson  and  Morton,  will  not  only  meet 
the  wishes  of  their  former  patients,  but  secure  to  them  additional 
patronage." 


V.  THE  CASKET  AND  THE  RIBBON,  OR  THE 
HONORS  OF  ETHER. 

In  this  review,  the  writer,  after  alluding  to  the 
importance  of  the  ether-discovery,  and  the  bitterness 
of  the  controversy  to  which  it  had  given  rise,  pro- 
ceeds thus : — 

That  controversy  is  now  substantially  ended.  The  mas- 
terly Report  of  the  Committee  of  Congress,  presented  by 
the  Hon.  Thos.  O.  Edwards,  M.D.,  —  its  clear  and  simple 
statements  of  the  question  at  issue, — its  searching  analysis 

42 


330  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

of  the  evidence,  —  its  striking  illustrations,  —  its  conclusive 
and  logical  deductions,  have,  as  we  believe,  convinced  all, 
except  those  fev^r  partisans  of  Dr.  Jackson  who,  from  per- 
sonal friendship,  professional  bias,  or  the  natural  reluctance 
to  abandon  an  early  and  cherished  opinion,  still  adhere  to 
his  cause  with  unwavering  fidelity.  Without  any  parade 
of  learninof  or  scientific  research,  this  document  sets  forth 
certain  acts  of  the  parties,  and  then,  by  the  plainest  and 
most  cogent  arguments,  irresistibly  leads  the  reader  to  infer 
the  motives  and  views  of  the  actors.  Without  any  severity 
of  language,  it  quietly  sets  aside  the  false  pretences  which 
came  under  its  notice.  Thus  Dr.  Jackson  claims  that  he 
made  his  discovery  in  1842.  If,  however,  he  had  the  least 
realizing  sense  of  this  great  truth  (it  is  argued),  then  he 
must  have  known  that  immortal  honor  awaited  its  disclos- 
ure. He  hears  around  him  the  cries  of  suflPering,  —  he  is 
admitted  to  be  an  eager  aspirant  for  fame,  —  and  no  one 
doubts  his  kindly  disposition.  But  he  remains  torpid  for 
four  years,  deaf  alike  to  the  call  of  ambition,  and  even  to 
the  dictates  of  common  humanity.  The  unavoidable  in- 
ference is,  that  he  could  not  have  had  any  strong,  clear 
convictions  in  the  case.  We  accede,  therefore,  at  once,  to 
the  conclusion,  that  he  merely  had  an-ived  at  an  induction 
or  hypothesis  on  the  subject  which  he  thought  of  little  or 
no  value  (probably  as  tending  only  to  a  slight  impi'ovement 
in  dental  surgery),  and  thus  entirely  omitted  to  take  any 
step  to  verify  it. 

Again,  Dr.  Jackson  claims,  that  at  last  Dr.  Morton  per- 
formed his  experiments  as  his  agent,  —  being  the  mere 
"  nurse  who  administered  his  prescription."  This  claim 
likewise  is  shown  to  be  surrounded  by  insuperable  diflfi- 
culties.  Dr.  Jackson,  in  an  interview,  not  sought  by  him- 
self ,  makes  a  mere  casual  suggestion  to  Dr.  Morton,  one 


THE    CASKET    AND    THE    RIBBON.  331 

whom  he  represents  as  grossly  ignorant  and  reckless,  to 
whom  he  refuses  to  give  a  written  certificate  of  the  safety 
of  the  application,  and  from  whom  he  thenceforward  holds 
himself  wholly  aloof.  He  is  not  present  at  the  early  ex- 
periments. He  publicly  denounces  Dr.  Morton  as  likely 
to  kill  somebody  yet  before  he  is  done  ;  expressing,  in  the 
strongest  manner,  his  I'egret  that  he  had  ever  given  him  any 
information  on  the  subject,  &c. 

Now,  the  inference  of  the  Committee  seems  absolutely 
unavoidable,  tliat  Dr.  Jackson  —  knowing,  as  he  must  have 
done,  the  importance  of  these  first,  test  experiments  ;  what 
science,  skill,  and  caution  were  necessary  for  their  safety  and 
success  —  could  not  have  selected  as  his  agent  such  a  man 
as  his  own  witnesses  represent  Dr.  Morton  to  be  ;  and  that, 
having  selected  him,  he  could  not  thus  have  conducted  him- 
self throughout   the   series   of  these  experiments. 

Indeed,  the  deliberate  claim  by  Dr.  Jackson,  that  these 
experiments  were  his,  performed  by  his  agent,  and  in  his 
behalf,  seems  to  us  the  act  of  a  man,  who,  shunning  all 
responsibility  during  the  period  of  danger  and  uncertainty, 
seeks  at  last  to  snatch  away  the  prize  which  had  been  fairly 
won  by  the  labors  and  services  of  another. 

The  legal  acumen  shown  by  the  Committee  is  remark- 
able :  it  would  do  high  honor  to  the  most  eminent  practi- 
tioner. The  fact  tliat  Dr.  Morton's  ignorance  (as  manifested 
at  his  interviev^r  with  Dr.  Jackson)  was  assumed,  seems 
certain,  from  his  having  previously  learned  from  Mr.  Metcalf 
the  general  properties  of  ether.  The  Committee,  however, 
discover  one  circumstance,  in  confirmation  of  this  position, 
which  had  before  been  wholly  unnoticed,  viz.  that  Dr. 
Jackson  directed  ether  to  be  spattered  on  a  handker- 
chief; thus  really  telling  that  it  loas  a  liquid, — so  that 
when  Dr.  Morton,  in  reply,  asked  if  it  were  a  gas,  he  must 
have  been  concealins^  what  he  knew. 


332  ETHER   DISCOVERY. 

The  comparison  of  the  testimony  of  Barnes  and  M'ln- 
tjre  is  also  most  able  and  satisfactory.  Dr.  Keep  and 
Don  Pedro  Wilson  are  placed  in  an  interesting  contrast 
—  without  a  word,  however,  charging  either  with  inten- 
tional falsehood ;  and  Dr.  Keep's  affidavit,  that  a  certain 
paper  contained  a  certain  statement  in  favor  of  Dr.  Jackson, 
is  amusingly  nullified  by  the  production  of  the  paper  itself, 
containing  nothino-  of  the  sort. 

This  report  is  brief,  pertinent,  searching,  decisive,  encum- 
bered with  no  array  of  documents,  and  no  irrelevant  opin- 
ions or  certificates.  It  adopts  the  four  propositions  contained 
in  the  Repoi't  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Massachusetts  General 
Hospital.  It  closes  with  a  stricture  upon  the  '^ jji'ofessional 
irregularity"  of  which  one  of  the  Messrs.  Lord,  the  attor- 
neys of  Dr.   Jackson,  had  been  guilty. 

We  repeat,  that  we  consider  that  this  document  has 
brought  to  an  untimely  end  the  claim  of  Dr.  Jackson  as 
the  discoverer  and  first  applier  of  etherization. 

A  Minority  Report  was  subsequently  presented  by  two 
members  of  the  Committee  of  Congress,  which  is  certainly 
a  more  plausible  statement  in  Dr.  Jackson's  behalf  than 
had  before  appeared.  It  does  not,  however,  as  we  conceive, 
disprove  or  even  weaken  the  conclusions  of  the  prior  Eeport, 
from  which  it  dissents.  It  sets  forth  what  no  one  has  ever 
denied,  —  that  Dr.  Jackson  communicated  to  Dr.  Morton 
an  induction  which  he  had  made,  viz.  that  ether  could  be 
used  with  safety  and  effect  during  a  dental  operation. 

The  Committee  next  proceed  with  a  long  array  of  opin- 
ions of  different  individuals  as  to  Dr.  Jackson's  merit  of 
having  made  this  suggestion.  President  Everett  and  other 
remonstrants  (among  whom,  we  regret  to  learn,  are  to  be 
found  many  of  the  Boston  dentists)  give  all  the  credit  to 
Jackson. 


THE    CASKET    AND    THE    RIBBON.  333 

After  criticising  the  letters  contained  in  the  Mi- 
nority Report,  from  Hon.  Franklin  Dexter,  Drs. 
Walter  Channing,  Luther  V.  Bell,  J.  B.  S.  Jack- 
son, John  D.  Fisher,  and  Mr.  Bowen,  the  editor 
of  the  "  North  American  Review,"  which  were  all 
in  favor  of  Dr.  Jackson,  the  writer  proceeds :  — 

A  letter  from  Mr.  Prescott,  tlie  historian,  with  more 
discrimination,  awards  to  him  the  suggestion  ;  but  to  Dr. 
Morton  "a  share,  and  no  mean  one,^^  in  the  discovery; 
viz.  its  verification.  A  letter  from  Charles  G.  Loring,  Esq., 
one  of  Dr.  Jackson's  counsel,  of  course  takes  the  side  of 
his  client.  It  is  not  an  uncommon  circumstance  for  gentle- 
men of  the  legal  profession  to  think  favorably  of  their  own 
cases,  —  to  regard  tlieir  own  geese  as  swans. 

Having  duly  paraded  these  letters  in  behalf  of  Dr.  Jackson, 
the  Committee  next  proceed  to  introduce  others  highly  com- 
plimentary to  Dr.  Morton  ;  which,  however  (as  they  would 
make  it  appear),  refer  merely  to  his  meritorious  services 
"  in  demonstrating  the  practical  value  of  the  discovery,  and 
in  contributing,  perhaps  (  !  )  more  than  any  other  person, 
towards  its  introduction  into  general  use."  It  is  certainly 
evidence  of  great  ingenuity  on  the  part  of  the  Committee, 
in  this  manner,  to  qualify  and  fritter  away  the  most  absolute 
and  unequivocal  recognitions  of  Dr.  Morton's  claims.  Dr. 
Jackson  can  never  despair,  if  his  friends  can  find  any  ground 
for  his  pretensions  left  in  such  a  letter  as  the  following  from 
Dr.  John  Jeffries,  of  Boston,  to  Mr.  Speaker  Winthrop  :  — 

"Boston,  January  10,  1849.  Dear  Sir,  —  Mr.  Morton, 
who  visits  Washington  to  seek  some  remuneration  from 
Government  for  the  benefit  which  he  has  conferred  on  the 
country  by  the  introduction  of  sulphuric  ether,  requests  me 


'334  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

to  express  to  you  my  opinion  ;  which  I  do  most  unreservedly, 
—  that  the  world  is  indebted  entirely  to  Mr.  Morton  for  the 
introduction  of  this  agent  to  produce  insensibility  to  pain, 
and  that  it  is  a  physical  blessing  not  second  to  any  that  has 
been  conferred  upon  suffering  humanity,"  &c. 

The  Committee  dispose  of  similar  letters  from  his  Excel- 
lency Gov.  Briggs  and  Ex-Gov.  Morton,  of  Massachusetts, 
and  Hon.  John  P.  Bigelow,  jNIayor  of  Boston,  by  suggesting, 
that,  as  the  writers  use  general  terms,  they  probably  rely 
more  upon  information  from  others  than  upon  any  investi- 
gation of  their  own.  The  whole  of  these  opinions,  pro  and 
con,  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  subject.  They  cliange  no 
fact,  and  i\\ey  prove  no  fact  in  the  case. 

After  some  dozen  pages  of  the  Report  have  been  thus 
occupied,  the  Committee  next  proceed  to  comment  upon  the 
character  and  competency  of  the  Boai'd  of  Trustees  of 
the  Hospital.  It  is  announced  as  a  fact,  that  there  are  few 
or  no  leual  or  scientific  men  amonof  the  members  of  that 
Board  ;  and  they  courteously  suggest  that  the  Trustees  have 
shown  partiality  towards  Dr.  Morton,  caused,  doubtless,  by 
a  thirst  for  distinction,  and  a  wish  to  identify  their  institu- 
tion with  the  discovery,  by  ascribing  the  chief  merit  to  its 
verification. 

Now  three,  at  least,  of  that  Board  are  on  the  list  of 
counsellors  at  law  in  Boston ;  and  the  Chairman  of  the 
Committee  for  drafting  the  Report  has  for  twenty  years  been 
extensively  engaged  in  a  branch  of  that  profession.  Three 
or  more  are  members  of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts 
and  Sciences;  one  of  them  (Mr.  J.  A.  Lowell)  being,  by 
his  position  as  sole  Trustee  of  the  Lowell  Institute  in  Bos- 
ton, brought  more  intimately  into  contact  with  scientific 
men  and  matters  than  almost  any  one  in  that  community. 
lie    is    one    of   the   Corporation  of    Harvard   College ;     and 


THE    CASKET    AND    THE    RIBBON.  335 

three-quarters  of  the  Board  are  graduates  of  that  institution. 
It  is  needless  to  add,  that  a  more  fair,  intelligent,  or  com- 
petent jury  was  probably  never  impanelled  to  try  an  issue. 
It  is  the  duty  of  this  Board  annually  to  lay  before  the  Cor- 
poration a  statement  of  the  affairs  of  the  Hospital  during  the 
past  year.  What  should  have  been  done  on  this  occasion? 
The  greatest  public  service  ever  rendered  by  the  institution 
has  been  performed  :  shall  it  be  passed  over  umnentioned  ? 
Certainly  not.  Shall  the  mere  naked  fact  be  stated,  that 
these  experiments  were  performed  at  the  request  of  Dr. 
Morton,  and  all  mention  even  of  Dr.  Jackson's  name  be 
omitted?  This  would  have  been  the  simplest,  perhaps  the 
wisest,  course.  But  would  it  have  been  any  more  satis- 
factory to  Dr.  Jackson  and  his  friends  ?  Tiie  course  actu- 
ally taken  Avas,  no  doubt,  that  by  which  the  Committee 
conscientiously  endeavored  to  do  full  and  equal  justice  both  to 
"  the  Dentist  Morton,"  whom  tiiey  had  never  seen,  and  to 
Dr.  Jackson,  their  old  acquaintance  and  friend.  So  obvious 
was  this  wish  on  their  part,  that  the  chief  medical  review 
of  the  country  (Hays's),  for  that  very  reason,  reprinted  the 
Report  verbatim. 

It  is  certainly  difficult  to  imagine  any  possible  bias  or 
interest,  on  the  part  either  of  the  institution  or  the  Trustees, 
to  the  prejudice  of  Dr.  Jackson.  Personal  regard  —  his 
position  in  society — his  standing  as  a  man  of  science  — 
would  all  seem  to  give  him  great  advantages  over  his  oppo- 
nent. Dr.  Jackson,  indeed,  very  modestly  suggested  to  the 
Committee  of  the  Hospital,  that  a  partiality  was  felt  towards 
Dr.  Morton,  under  the  idea,  that,  if  the  claims  of  one  so 
ignorant  were  eulogized,  rather  than  his  own,  the  institu- 
tio7i  would  thereby  acquire  a  larger  share  of  credit  as 
accoucheurs  of  the  discovery.  What  possible  bearing,  how- 
ever, can  it  have  in  the  case,  how  Dr.  Morton  happened  to 


336  ETHER    DISCOVERT. 

be  led  to  think  of  the  subject?  The  operations  were  actually 
performed  at  his  sole  request,  by  surgeons  who  had  never 
heard  of  Dr.  Jackson's  name  in  connection  with  the  discovery. 
This  is  a  "  fixed  fact."  How  is  it  altered  or  affected  by  the 
subsequent  information,  that  Dr.  Morton  acted  pursuant  to 
a  suggestion  of  Dr.  Jackson?  They  had  performed  the 
operations  on  their  own  responsibility,  unaided  by  a  word 
of  advice  or  caution  from  Dr.  Jackson  ;  and  the  credit  of 
the  "delivery,"  be  it  more  or  less,  belongs  to  them,  no  mat- 
ter who  proves  to  be  the  father  of  the  child. 

To  explain  the  position  of  the  Massachusetts  General 
Hospital,  the  Committee  introduce  two  letters.  The  first  is 
from  Dr.  W.  J.  Walker,  an  eminent  surgeon,  of  Boston,  or 
its  vicinity,  now  retired  from  practice. 

The  second  letter  is  from  L.  M.  Sargent,  Esq.,  well 
known  as  author  of  the  Temperance  Tales.  This  epistle  is 
the  gem  of  the  whole  collection.  Mr.  Sargent  is  a  ready, 
playful,  and  caustic  writer;  and  none  can  fail  to  be  amused 
with  this  production,  which  exhibits,  in  a  strong  light,  all 
his  peculiarities.  ....... 

Letters  from  Dr.  Jacob  Bigelow  and  Dr.  George  ^^y- 
\yi\x(}L,  fully  indorsing  the  Hospital  Report,  close  this  list. 
These  gentlemen  are  disposed  of  by  the  remark,  that  they 
are  probably  the  persons  alluded  to  in  Dr.  Walker's  letter. 
The  former  is  President  of  the  American  Academy.  The 
latter  is  the  first  surgeon  who  ever  used  ether  in  a  capital 
operation,  and  has  been  for  many  years  one  of  the  surgeons 
of  the  Hospital  in  Boston. 

Leaving  all  this  prolonged  and  useless  discussion,  the 
Committee  next  proceed,  in  great  detail,  to  show  that  Dr. 
Jackson,  after  having  made  this  induction  for  four  years, 
spoke  of  it  to  various  persons  in  the  most  public  and  decided 
manner.     They  then   declare,  that,  "  whether  Morton  had 


THE    CASKET    AND    THE    RIBBON.  337 

been  before  hi  pitrsuit  of  this  object  or  not,  as  he  failed  to 
find  it  till  guided  in  the  right  way  by  a  learned  chemist,  the 
judgment  of  mankind  as  to  the  chief  merits  of  the  discovery 
will  be  the  same  in  either  case."  Why,  then,  it  may  be 
asked,  did  the  Committee  think  it  important  to  make  an 
•  elaborate  effort  to  prove  that  Dr.  Morton  had  in  fact  made 
no  prior  experiment?  And  here  it  is  wortiiy  of  notice, 
that  there  is  not  the  slightest  attempt  made  to  reconcile 
those  fatal  discrepancies,  or  to  obviate  those  stringent  ob- 
jections which  had  been  set  forth  in  the  Majority  Report, 
in  its  comments  upon  the  witnesses  in  the  case.  Don  Pedro 
Wilson  and  Dr.  Keep  here  jog  along  together  most  harmo- 
niously. The  half-dozen  personal  enemies  of  Dr.  Morton 
prove  most  satisfactorily,  that  he  unbosomed  himself  to 
them  by  admissions  fatal  to  his  own  claims,  and  entirely 
at  variance  with  his  course  publicly  pursued  with  everybody 
else,  and  on  all  other  occasions  ;  and  no  attempt  is  made 
to  explain  this  remarhable  selection  of  confidants.*  Mr. 
Metcalf,  whose  testimony  (from  ins  known  intelligence  and 
high  standing)  is  of  the  greatest  importance  to  Dr.  Morton, 
and  who  is  able  to  fix  dates  by  the  decisive  circumstance 
of  a  voyage  to  Europe,  is  dismissed  with  the  remark,  that 

*  Our  readers  are  already  familiar  with  the  provoking  discrepancy  be- 
tween the  actions  of  Dr.  Jackson  and  his  claim.  He  has  set  about  with 
remarkable  zeal  to  correct  the  great  oversight;  but  we  can  only  condole 
with  him,  while  we  point  to  the  lateness  of  the  hour.  It  is  in  vain  tliat  he 
appeals  to  the  buried  years  of  the  past  to  rise,  that  he  may  stealthily  write 
modern  truths  on  their  records  ere  they  sink  again:  unheeding,  they  slum- 
ber on.  It  is  in  vain  that  he  refers  to  the  utterance  of  familiar  facts  in 
science  :  they  were  printed  long  ago.  It  is  in  vain  that  his  friends  point  to 
his  reputation  and  ability  :  we  will  admit  it  all,  but  it  does  not  help  his  case ; 
for  his  actions  are  in  advance  of  every  thing,  and  ti)ey  condemn  him.  "  His 
case  is  hopeless,  who,  having  nothing  to  say  for  his  conduct,  at  length  appeals 
to  his  character:  the  mercy  of  the  court  alone  can  save  him." —  Casket  and 
Ribbon. 

43 


338  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

"  his  statement  seems  too  vague  to  possess  much  weight,  in 
view  of  so  great  a  mass  of  conflicting  testimony,"  and  with 
some  comments  on  the  small  size  of  the  vial  of  ether  which 
he  saw  in  Dr.  Morton's  hands.  Mr.  Wightman's  testimony 
(equally  important  and  conclusive)  the  Committee  endea- 
vor to  disparage,  by  intimating  "that  there  is  some  extraor- 
dinary confusion  in  his  dates  ;  "  carefully  avoiding  all  allusion 
to  those  circumstances  which  render  the  exact  time  of  his 
interview  with  Dr.  Morton  absolutely  and  demonstratively 
certain,  by  written  as  well  as  internal  evidence  of  the  most 
satisfactory  character. 

The  Committee,  in  a  former  part  of  the  Eeport,  had 
introduced  in  italics,  and  quoted  with  great  emphasis,  the 
statement  of  a  new  deponent  (Mr.  Fowle),  who  goes  all 
lengths,  and  swears  that  Dr.  Jackson  told  him  in  1842,  that 
by  the  use  of  ether  you  can  have  a  tooth  extracted  or  a  limb 
cut  off  without  paiii."  But  it  appears  that  ^Ir.  Eddy,  in 
1846,  had  asked  Dr.  Jackson  "  whether  he  knew  that  the 
flesh  of  a  person  asleep  from  ether  could  be  cut  without 
pain  ; "  to  which  the  reply  was,  "  No  ;  nor  Morton  either  ; 
he  is  a  reckless  man,"&c.  ;  "  the  chance  is  he  will  kill  some- 
body yet." 

These  two  deponents  (if  their  testimony  had  been  brought 
together)  would  certainly  seem  to  be  somewhat  at  variance. 
The  Committee  resort  to  the  adroit  hypothesis,  that  Dr. 
Jackson  merely  meant,  on  the  last  occasion,  to  say  that 
he  did  not  Jcnoio  the  fact,  —  not  to  intimate  that  he  did  not 
fully  believe  it.  The  words  actually  used,  it  must  be  con- 
fessed, were  oddly  selected,  even  for  the  purpose  of  ex- 
pressing belief. 

In  general,  it  may  be  remarked  that  the  tone  of  the  whole 
document  is  unworthy  of  the  Committee.  It  has  not,  in  the 
least,    a  judicial    character.     It   is    an    argument  for   Dr. 


THE    CASKET    AND    THE    RIBBON.  339 

Jackson,  exactly  such  as  his  attorneys  would  be  likely 
to  have  submitted,  and  which  we  really  think  must  have 
emanated  from  that  source,  and  have  been  adopted  by 
the  Committee,  without  any  revision  or  modification.  It 
throughout  exaggerates  the  merit  of  the  one,  and  depre- 
ciates that  of  the  other  party.  Thus,  it  is  not  intimated 
that  Sir  Humphrey  Davy,  half  a  century  ago,  suggested 
the  same  general  idea  of  prevention  of  pain,  in  surgical 
operations,  —  using,  however,  another  agent  (nitrous  ox- 
ide) ;  that,  more  than  thirty  years  ago,  a  case  was  published 
to  the  medical  world,  of  a  man  having  been  rendered 
lethargic  by  the  use  of  ether  mixed  with  atmospheric  air ; 
the  effects  produced  being  declared  to  be  strikingly  similar 
to  those  of  nitrous  oxide,  and  also  highly  dangerous.  Not 
one  word  is  said  of  Dr.  Wells  ;  of  his  experiments,  con- 
ducted by  means  of  the  agent  recommended  by  Davy  ;  of 
Morton's  knowledge  of  and  participation  in  those  experi- 
ments (prior  to  his  purchase  of  sulphuric  ether,  sworn  to 
by  Metcalf) ,  —  not  one  word  of  all  this.  The  reader  is  left, 
instead,  to  infer  that,  to  Dr.  Jackson,  Morton  was  indebted 
for  the  whole  idea  or  conception.  To  him  is  given  the 
concentrated  credit  due  to  the  united  genius  and  labors  of 
all  who  preceded  him.  "A  great  truth  was  hidden,"  say 
the  Committee,  "and  by  him  was  first  revealed." 

It  is  not  intimated,  that,  during  all  those  four  years.  Dr. 
Jackson  had  never  tried  a  single  experiment  for  the  purpose 
of  demonstrating  the  safety  of  the  agent  employed,  although 
it  was,  as  he  well  knew,  supposed  by  the  profession  to  be 
extremely  dangerous.  There  is  not  the  slightest  mention  of 
"  the  earnest  or  indefatigable  labors  of  Dr.  Morton "  in 
bringing  out  this  discovery,  although  we  are  told  by  one  of 
the  surgeons  of  the  Hos^^ital,  "that  he  absolutely  haunted 
them."     On   the    other   hand,  not   a   word   of  comment   is 


340  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

made  on  the  preposterous  claim  of  Dr.  Jackson,  that  the 
verification  of  the  discovery,  no  less  than  its  suggestion, 
was  wholly  his. 

There  is  not  the  slightest  attempt  to  refute  Dr.  Edwards's 
demonstration  upon  this  point.  The  minority,  being  unable 
to  say  any  thing  in  favor  of,  and  unwilling  to  say  any  thing 
against,  Dr.  Jackson,  preserve,  upon  this  branch  of  their 
inquiry,  a  discreet  silence.  In  other  words,  the  whole  Com- 
mittee concur  in  according  to  Dr.  Mortoji  the  first  actual 
application  of  ether.  We  believe,  indeed,  that  the  only 
rebuke  administered  to  Dr.  Jackson  by  the  Committee  is 
the  very  gentle  one  of  not  being  quite  justified  in  becoming 
a  party  to  the  patent,  "  in  violation  of  the  recognized  obliga- 
tion  of  medical  brotherhood." 

Upon  this  subject  of  the  patent,  the  same  disingenuous 
course  seems  to  have  been  adopted  by  the  Committee.  No 
attempt  is  made  to  reconcile  with  the  "  present  exclusive 
claims  of  Dr.  Jackson  the  fact  that  he  consented  to  become 
a  joint  patentee  with  Dr.  Morton,  and  to  receive  only  one- 
tenth  part  of  its  profits,  and  thereupon  even  took  an  oath 
that  they  were  joint  discoverers."  *  Commenting  severely 
on  Dr.  Morton's  attempt  to  secure  the  patent  for  his  own 
pecuniary    benefit,    no    intimation    is    given   of    the    formal 

*  What  would  have  been  Dr.  Jackson's  position,  if  he  had  merely  per- 
mitted this  discovery  to  go  forth  to  the  world  as  —  in  the  specification 
accompanying  tlie  patent,  he  made  oath  that  it  really  was  —  made  jointly  by 
himself  and  Dr.  Morton  ?  He  lias  only,  therefore,  to  remain  silent,  and  he 
is  sure  of  the  chief  honors  of  the  discovery.  Tiie  ribbon  of  France  and  the 
medal  of  Sweden  will  be  his,  and  none  may  challenge  his  right  to  wear 
them.  But,  alas !  he  sees  fit  to  claim  all,  though  all  was  virtually  his 
before ;  and  he  realizes  the  fate  of  the  dog  in  the  fable,  who  "  grasped  the 
shadow,  and  tiie  substance  missed."  He  too,  opens  his  month ;  and  what  for- 
tune gave,  folly  lost.  Dr.  Jackson  must,  indeed,  as  it  seems  to  us,  be  classed 
among  those  who  have  been  "ruined  at  their  own  request." — Casket  and 
Ribbon. 


THE    CASKET    AND    THE    RIBBON.  341 

attempt  of  Dr.  Jackson,  through  liis  legal  advisers,  to 
obtain  for  himself  an  increased  share  of  its  profits.  While 
the  Report  heralds  forth  Dr.  Morton's  offer  to  sell  his  dis- 
covery to  the  Government,  for  the  use  of  the  army  and 
navy,  and  speaks  of  his  attempt  to  "  extort  money  from  the 
nation's  sufferings,"  it  conceals  his  grattiilous  offer  of  its 
use  for  both  those  departments,  on  account  of  the  existing 
Mexican  war,  and  his  like  gratuitous  ofTer  for  the  benefit  of 
every  public  charitable  institution  in  the  United  States.   .    .    . 

The  document  closes  with  the  following  intelligence : 
"  Note.  —  Before  the  ink  with  which  we  penned  our  con- 
cluding sentence  was  dry,  a  telegraphic  despatch  was  laid 
before  us  by  Joseph  L.  Lord,  Esq.,  of  Boston,  announcing 
that,  on  the  31st  of  January  last,  the  Institute  of  France 
awarded  the  Cross  of  the  Legion  of  Honor  to  Dr.  Jackson, 
as  the  discoverer  of  etherization.  It  is  extremely  gratifying 
to  find,  that  our  own  views  concur  with  the  decision  which 
has  been  pronounced  in  favor  of  Dr.  Jackson  by  the  most 
enlightened  body  of  scientific  7nen  in  the  world." 

The  Committee,  unfortunately,  wei'e  soon  to  be  deprived 
of  this  gratification.  Like  other  statements  which  they  had 
made  on  Mr.  Lord's  authority,  this  last  —  most  flattering 
one  —  proves  to  have  been  very  highly  colored.  Dr.  Jack- 
son had  indeed  received  a  ribbon:  but  the  gift  was  in 
nowise  connected  with  the  French  Institute;  and  he  was 
himself  at  last  obliged  (when  pressed  by  various  newspaper 
inquiries)  publicly  to  declare  in  print,  that  he  had  never 
stated  that  there  had  been  any  formal  decision  of  that 
body  in  his  favor;  and  that  the  above  announcement  in  the 
Minority  Keport  was  the  result  of  a  telegro'phic  mistake. 
We  believe,  however,  that  he  has  never  attempted  to  explain 
how  it  happened,  that  his  attorneys,  in  his  name,  and  by 
his   sanction,  gave  direct   currency  to   the   same  "mistake" 


342  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

on  various  other  public  occasions,  and  when  no  telegraph 
toas  used  as  the  medium  of  communication.  We  hardly 
think  that  Dr.  Jackson  will  ever  get  a  verdict  in  his  favor 
from  the  French  Academy.  It  seems  certain,  at  any  rate, 
that  his  claims  are  entirely  overlooked  by  the  American 
Academy ;  since  that  learned  body  has  not  even  pub- 
lished, in  its  new  volume.  Dr.  Jackson's  communication, 
setting  forth  his  pretensions  as  the  discoverer  of  etheriza- 
tion. 

A  voluminous  Api)endix  accompanies  this  Minority  Re- 
port. The  reader  will  find  there  all  the  affidavits  in  the 
case,  which  he  has  seen  so  often  in  former  publications, 
and  which  must  by  this  time  have  assumed  a  very  familiar 
aspect.  An  unexpected  discovery  will,  however,  reward 
his  patient  investigations,  as  he  draws  near  the  close  of 
the  })am[)hlet.  He  will  there  find  various  documents  upon 
Dr.  Morton's  side,  which  (as  it  would  seem)  must  have  got 
into  their  present  company  by  accident  or  inadvertence  on 
the  part  of  the  Committee.  There  are  the  depositions  of 
Spear  and  Leavitt,*  upon  which  the  Majority  Report  had 
been  led  to  speak  of  the  "  professional  irregularity  of  one  of 
Dr.  Jackson's  attorneys."  A  most  important  letter  from 
Dr.  Augustus  A.  Gould,  of  Boston,  also  is  there,  charging 
those  gentlemen  with  "  a  breach  of  courtesy  and  confi- 
dence ;  "  exposing  various  inaccuracies  in  their  statements  ; 
and  expressly  averring,  that  Dr.  Morton,  on  an  occasion 
alluded  to,  did  mention  to  him  his  early  experiments,  made 

*  With  an  entire  unconsciousness  of  demerit,  Mr.  Lord,  accompanied  by 
a  professional  brother,  waits  on  Mr.  Leavitt,  and  says,  "  Now,  Mr.  Leavitt, 
what  did  you  mean  by  swearing  tliat  I  sought  to  bribe  you  1 "  He  replied, 
"  You  or  Mr.  Lord  told  me  that  /  should  lose  nothing  by  signing  such  a 
statement;  and  /  supposed  you  meant  to  give  me  something,  if  I  would."  Mr. 
Lord  tlicn  asked  Mr.  Leavitt,  if  that  was  ah  tlie  ground  for  saying  lie  had 
bribed  him.     Mr.  Leavitt  replied  in  the  affirmative.  —  Casket  and  Ribbon. 


THE    CASKET    AND    THE    RIBBON.  343 

before  the  interview  with  Jackson  ;  adding,  ^^ Indeed  I  had 
many  reasons  for  helieviyig  that  experiments  of  the  nature 
specified  by  him,  had  heen  •performed.''^  There  is  another 
most  severe  letter  from  Mr.  Metcalf,  charging  Dr.  Jackson's 
attorneys  with  "  positive  falsehood,"  .  .  .  These  latter  docu- 
ments throw  great  light  upon  the  mode  in  which  this  contro- 
versy has  been  conducted  on  the  part  of  Dr.  Jackson  and 
his  friends.  None  of  them  had  before  appeared  in  print; 
and  verily  we  are  astonished  that  Dr.  Jackson  and  his 
friends  should  now  wish  to  circulate  them.  .  .  .  An 
excellent  letter  also  appears,  addressed  by  Dr.  Oliver  W. 
Holmes  (the  poet-physician)  to  Hon.  Isaac  C.  Morse,  in 
which  he  says,  "It  is  well  known  that  Dr.  Morton,  instead 
of  profiting  by  his  discovery,  has  suffered  in  mind,  body, 
and  estate,  in  consequence  of  the  time  and  toil  he  has 
consecrated   to    it. 

"I  have  no  particular  relations  with  Dr.  Morton,  and  no 
interest  in  common  with  him,  to  bias  me  in  my  opinion  and 
feelini^s.  But,  rememberino-  what  other  countries  have  done 
for  their  public  benefactors,  and  unwilling  to  believe  that  a 
rich  and  prosperous  republic  cannot  afford,  and  will  not 
incline,  to  indulge  its  gratitude  whenever  a  proper  occasion 
presents  itself,  I  have  addressed  you  this  line  to  tell  you, 
that  I  think  noio  is  the  time,  and  this  is  the  man.^^ 

Finally,  a  communication  is  published  by  which  the  high 
authority  of  Dr.  James  Jackson,  of  Boston,  is  claimed  for 
Dr.  Morton,  whom  he  considers  entitled  to  a  grant  from 
Congress  for  the  "  ether  discovery,  more  than  any  and  all 
other  persons  in  the  zoorld."  And  we  find  also  a  letter 
from  Dr.  Henry  J.  Bigelow,  of  Boston,  one  of  the  surgeons 
of  the  Hospital,  to  Mr.  Winthrop,  which  so  ably,  clearly, 
and    concisely    states    the    whole     argument    in    favor    of 


344 


ETHER    DISCOVERY. 


Morton,  that  we  cannot  refrain  from  quoting  it  entire.* 
Dr.  B.  is  of  the  opinion  of  Paley,  who  says,  "  He  alone 
discovers  who  jjj-oves."   .    .    . 

*  "  Boston,  Jan.  26,  1848. 

"  Dear  Sir,  —  Learning  that  Dr.  Morton  is  in  Washington,  and  being  much 
interested  in  the  ether-controversy,  I  take  the  liberty  to  write  to  you. 

"  I  believe  most  fully,  that  Dr.  Morton  deserves  any  reward  Congress  may 
grant  to  the  discoverer;  because,  although  many  people  have  tliougld  that  a 
man  could  be  intoxicated  beyond  the  reach  of  pain,  Dr.  Morton  alone  ;>roi,-erf 
this  previous  possibility  to  be  a  certainty,  and  safe.  A  diagram  will  make  the 
matter  plainer  than  words  :  — 


Before  October,  1846. 
Wlio  made  the  suggestion  ? 
Here  is  tlie  ouly  ground  of 
dispute. 


Discovery  in  October,  1846. 
Consecutive     experiments 
by  Morton. 


After  October,  1846. 
Morton  alone  took  tlie  re- 
sponsibility of  danger,  and 
proved  that  ether  was,  1st, 
certain,  2d,  safe. 


"  The  two  last  points,  viz.  the  consecutive  experiments  and  their  confirma- 
tion, which  nohody  disputes  to  ilorton,  make  him,  in  my  eyes,  the  discoverer. 
Tlie  only  doubt  is,  Wlio  made  tiie  sufifpstion  ?  To  me  this  is  of  no  importance. 
Dr.  Jackson  says,  '  I  did.  I  told  Mr.  Morton  to  try  the  experiment;  and 
unless  I  had  so  told  him,  he  would  never  have  tried  it.'  Dr.  Jackson  adds, 
'  I  first  tried  ether  when  I  was  suflfering  from  chlorine  in  1842.  I  afterwards 
recommended  it  to  Mr.  Peabodj-.'  But  Dr.  Morton  confutes  even  these 
positions.  He  says  to  Dr.  Jackson,  —  1st,  I  show  by  the  evidence  of  Dr. 
Gould,  JNIr.  Wightman,  and  Mr.  Metcalf  that  I  was  experimenting  with 
etlier  before  the  interview  in  which  you  claim  to  have  brought  it  to  my 
notice.  2d,  in  1842,  you  only  rediscovered  what  was  before  clearly  in  print 
in  Pereira's  Materia  Medica.  3d,  You  claim  to  have  told  Mr.  Peabody  what 
you  knew  of  ether.  Kow,  you  could  not  Icnow  it.  You  have  stated  all  your 
grounds  of  deduction,  and  tlie  widest  inference  you  could  draw  from  them 
is  a  suspicion  of  the  properties  of  ether ;  and  a  suspicion  in  science,  an  uncon- 
firmed theory,  amounts  to  nothing.  Finally,  what  j'ou  claim  to  have  dis- 
covered in  1842  you  kept  to  yourself  during  four  years.  Do  you  expect 
the  world  to  believe  you  knew  its  value  ?  Do  you  expect  it  to  reward  you 
for  letting  people  suffer  during  that  length  of  time  1  Besides,  the  suggestion 
of  ansesthetic  agencies  occurred  to  Davy :  especially  was  it  followed  out, 
though  unsuccessfuU}',  by  Horace  Wells,  who,  disgusted  with  failure,  aban- 
doned his  attempts.  —  These  and  others  had  hypotheses,  as  well  as  Dr. 
Jackson.     Morton  alone*  proved  the  hypothesis.     Without  Morton,  there  is  ' 


THE    CASKET    AND    THE    RIBBON.  345 

Finally,  then,  we  would  express  our  conviction,  that  the 
positions  taken  by  Dr.  Edwards  are  not  in  the  slightest 
degree  weakened  by  any  of  the  arguments  in  the  Minority 
Report ;  but  that,  on  the  contrary,  they  ai'e  confirmed  by 
various  new  documents,  which,  had  they  not  been  so  unac- 
countably appended  to  that  Report,  would  probably  never 
have  seen  the  light.  The  two  Reports,  indeed,  as  it  seems 
to  us,  should  be  examined  in  the  reversed  order. 

We  believe,  that,  if  any  candid  or  unprejudiced  person, 
after  reading  the  Minority  Report,  will  take  up  that  of  Dr. 
Edwards,  he  will  find  it  to  be  a  complete  a  priori  refuta- 
tion of  all  that  has  since  been  so  plausibly  advanced  in  Dr. 
Jackson's   behalf. 

AVe  sincerely  congratulate  Dr.  Morton  upon  the  fact  that 
the  opinion  is  constantly  becoming  more  and  more  strong 
and  general,  that  to  his  eflforts  and  labors  the  world  owes 
one  of  its  choicest  blessings.  Though  the  honors  already 
received  by  him  have,  through  Dr.  Jackson's  instrumentality, 
been  turned  into  insults,  and  the  compensation  fairly  his 
due  from  Government  has,  through  the  same  instrumental- 
no  evidence  that  the  world  would  have  known  ether  till  the  present  day.  I 
believe  this  covers  the  ground  of  important  argument  and  difference  in  the 
pamphlets. 

"  I  beg  you  to  allow  for  any  inelegancies,  resulting  from  my  attempt  at 
brevity,  and  to  believe  me,  very  truly  and  respectfully,  your  obedient  friend 
and  servant, 

"  Mr.  Winthrop."  "  Henry  J.  Bigelow. 

There  is  not  probably  a  more  skilful  surgeon  in  the  United  States  than 
Dr.  Bigelow.  He  has  just  been  appointed  Professor  of  Surgery  in  the  Mas- 
sachusetts Medical  College,  on  the  resignation  of  Dr.  George  Hayward.  To 
a  great  power  of  imparting  information  orally,  he  unites  a  condensed  style  of 
writing.  He  apparently  entertains  the  opinion,  well  expressed  by  a  contem- 
porary reviewer,  respecting  productions  moderate  in  bulk  and  portable,  viz. 
that  "  the  light  skiff  will  shoot  the  cataracts  of  time,  when  a  heavier  vessel 
will  infallibly  go  down." —  Casket  and  Ribbon. 

44 


346  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

ity,  been  as  yet  withheld,  we  cannot  doubt  that  his  services 
will  eventually  obtain  a  fitting  reward,  and  that  they  will 
command  the  lasting  gratitude  of  the  country  and  of  man- 
kind. 

It  seems  to  us  that  these  efforts  of  Dr.  Jackson  and  his 
friends  have  signally  failed.  On  the  one  hand,  the  casket 
is,  in  our  opinion,  something  MORE  than  "  a  snuff-box  by 
way  of  charity ;  "  and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  ribbon  is 
something  LESS  than  "  a  unanimous  decision  of  the  French 
Institute,  after  a  full  sifting  of  all  the  evidence." 


VI.     AWARD  OF   THE   FRENCH   INSTITUTE. 

In  March,  1850,  the  French  Institute  pronounced 
an  award  in  the  matter  of  the  ether-discovery.  The 
first  prize  of  medicine  and  surgery,  for  the  years  1847 
and  1848,  was  decreed  to  Messrs.  Jackson  and  Mor- 
ton jointly.  The  Committee  of  Medical  and  Surgical 
Prizes  consisted  of  Messrs.  Velpeau,  Royer,  Serres, 
Magendie,  Dumeril,  Andral,  Flourens,  Lallemand, 
and  Rouse.  Various  learned  labors  were  considered 
and  discussed  by  the  Committee ;  but  the  discovery 
of  the  anaesthetic  properties  of  ether  was  regarded 
as  the  most  important  of  them  all.  The  language  of 
the  award  is  as  follows :  "  Mr.  Jackson  and  Mr. 
Morton  were  necessary  to  each  other.  Without  the 
earnestness,  the  preconceived  idea,  the  courage,  not  to 


AWARD    OF   THE    FRENCH    INSTITUTE.  347 

say  the  audacity,  of  the  latter,  the  fact  observed  by 
Mr.  Jackson  might  have  long  remained  unapplied  ; 
and,  but  for  the  fact  observed  by  Mr.  Jackson,  the 
idea  of  Mr.  Morton  would  perhaps  have  been  barren 
and  ineffectual."  *  Two  thousand  five  hundred  francs 
are  therefore  awarded  to  Mr.  Jackson  "  for  his  ob- 
servations and  experiments  on  the  antesthetic  effects 
of  the  inhalation  of  ether  ;"t  and  the  same  sum  to 
Mr.  Morton  "  for  having  introduced  this  method  into 
surgical  practice,  pursuant  to  the  suggestions  of  Mr. 
Jackson."  "^ 


It  is  a  gratifying  circumstance,  that,  though  ether 
has  been  used  at  the  Hospital  since  its  first  introduc- 
tion in  more  than  six  hundred  cases,  it  has  never 
been  attended  with  any  injurious  results.  Dr.  Hay- 
ward  has  always  used  sulphuric  ether.  The  Drs. 
Warren  have  preferred  a  preparation  of  chloric  ether, 
which  differs,  as  I  understand,  from  chloroform  only 
in    the    proportion    in    which    it   is    combined   with 

*  "M.  Jackson  et  M.  Morton  ont  ete  necessaires  I'un  a  I'autre.  Sans 
les  instances,  la  preoccupation,  et  le  courage,  pour  ne  pas  dire  I'audace,  de 
celui-ci,  I'observation  faite  par  M.  Jackson  aurait  pu  rester  longtemps  inap- 
plique'e ;  et  sans  le  fait  observe  par  M.  Jackson,  la  pense'e  de  M.  Morton 
aurait  peut-etre  sterile  et  sans  effets." 

t "  Pour  ses  observations  "et  ses  experiences  sur  les  effets  anesthetiques 
produits  par  I'inhalation  de  Tether." 

t  "  Pour  avoir  introduit  cette  methode  dans  la  pratique  chirurgicale, 
d'apres  les  indications  de  M.  Jackson." 


348  ETHER    DISCOVERY. 

alcohol.  I  close  this  chapter  with  the  following 
statement,  kindly  furnished  by  Dr.  Borland,  one  of 
the  House  Physicians  :  — 

Massachusetts  General  Hospital, 
May  12,  1851. 
Nathaniel  I.  Bowditch,  Esq. 

Sir,  —  In  accordance  with  your  desire,  I  have  examined  the 
Surgical  Records  of  the  Hospital,  and  find,  that,  since  Jan.  1,  1848, 
there  have  been  performed  — 

Under  sulphuric  ether 186 

„      chloric  ether 138 

„      chloroform 25 

„      nitrous  oxide  gas 1 


35o^r„r 

During  this  time,  in  cases  of  out-patients, 
medical  patients,  setting  of  fractured  limbs, 
dressings,  &c.  ether  has  been  employed  in 
at  least 1505"*""* 

'^"'-' ^  more. 

Yours  respectfully, 

J.  Nelson  Borland, 

House  Physician  to  Massachusetts  General  Hoqntal. 

*  Prior  to  Januar}',  1848,  ether  had  been  used  at  the  Hospital  in  a 
hundred  and  thirty-two  cases  (see  p.  218) ;  making  a  grand  total  of  six  iiun- 
dred  and  thirty-two  cases.  It  is,  indeed,  there  resorted  to  m  every  serious 
operation. 


349 


CHAPTER   X. 

1848—1851. 

Wedding  at  Hospital.  —  Gift  of  Trustees.  —  Cost  of  the  Two  New 
Wings,  &c.  —  Death  of  Dr.  Enoch  Hale.  —  Ali>  further  Ether  Con- 
troversy declined.  —  Gas.  —  Devise  of  John  D.  Williams  of  Store 
WORTH  Seventeen  Thousand  Dollars. — Free  Beds  placed  at  dis- 
posal of  his  Executors.  —  Bequest  of  B.  E.  Nichols,  Six  Thousand 
Dollars.  —  Bequests  of  John  Bromfield,  in  all  Forty  Thousand 
Dollars.  —  Mr.  Hooper  resigns  as  Chairman,  and  is  elected  Vice- 
President. —  Bequest  of  Henry  Todd,  Five  Thousand  Dollars. — 
Death  of  Dr.  John  D.  Fisher.  — Addition  to  Lodge  at  the  Asylum. 

—  Post-mortem  Examinations. — Death  of  Signor  Sarti.  —  New 
Donation  of  William  Appleton,  Twenty  Thousand  Dollars. — 
Night  Watch  at   Asylum. — Eesignation   of   Dr.   Hayward  :  his 

long  and  valuable  services. votes  of  trustees. varioloid 

AT  Hospital.  —  Votes  op  Trustees.  —  Legacy  of  Dr.  Charles  W. 
Wilder,  Twenty*  Thousand   Dollars.  —  Lee   Donations  of  1830. 

—  Dix  Ward  at   Asylum  named  in  honor  of  Miss  Dix. 

At  the  annual  meeting,  Jan.  26,  1848,  Messrs.  Amos 
A.  Lawrence  and  Charles  H.  Mills  were  elected  Trus- 
tees, in  place  of  Charles  Amory  and  William  T. 
Andrews,  who,  having  declined  a  re-election,  were 
thanked  for  their  "  very  faithful  and  acceptable  ser- 
vices." Feb.  6,  all  the  Medical  and  Surgical  Officers, 
heads  of  both  departments,  and  Standing  Committees, 
were  re-elected.  The  following  was  the  organization 
of  the  Hospital  at  this  period  :  William  Appleton, 
President;  Theodore  Lyman,  Vice-President ;  Henry 
Andrews,  Treasurer;  Marcus  Morton,  jun.  Secretary; 


•350  ELECTION    OF    OFFICERS. 

Nathaniel  I.  Bowditch,  George  M.  Dexter,  Kobert 
Hooper,  Amos  A.  Lawrence,  Francis  C.  Lowell, 
Charles  H.  Mills,  J.  Thomas  Stevenson,  Edward 
Wigglesworth,  Trustees  on  part  of  the  Corporation ; 
Thomas  Lamb,  J.  AViley  Edmands,  John  A.  Lowell, 
and  Henry  B.  Rogers,  Trustees  on  part  of  the  Com- 
monwealth ;  Drs.  James  Jackson,  George  C.  Shat- 
tuck,  John  Jeffries,  Edward  Reynolds,  Board  of 
Consultation  ;  Drs.  Jacob  Bio^elow,  Henrv  I.  Bow- 
ditch,  John  D.  Fisher,  John  B.  S.  Jackson,  Enoch 
Hale,  O.  AY.  Holmes,  Visiting  Physicians  ;  Drs.  John 
C.  "Warren,  George  Hay  ward,  Solomon  D.  Townsend, 
Henry  J.  Bigelow,  Samuel  Parkman,  J.  Mason  War- 
ren, Visiting  Surgeons ;  Dr.  Win.  Henry  Thayer, 
Admitting  Physician;  Richard  Girdler,  Superin- 
tendent of  Hospital;  Dr.  Bell,  Physician  and  Super- 
intendent of  Asylum;  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Tyler, 
Steward  and  Matron.  Two  thousand  copies  of  the 
annual  report  ordered.  March  19,  salary  of  the 
Admitting  Physician  was  fixed  at  two  hundred  dol- 
lars. The  subject  of  arranging  a  system  of  keeping 
the  books  of  the  Institution,  so  that  the  Treasurer's 
accounts  may  show  the  exact  amount  of  receipts  and 
expenditures  of  both  departments,  was  discussed,  and 
referred  to  Mr.  Stevenson,  who  subsequently  made  a 
report;  and  the  following  vote  was  adopted,  viz. 
•'  That  the  auditor's  certificate  of  the  correctness  of 


COST    OF    IMPROVEMENTS.  851 

the  quarterly  accounts  of  the  Steward  of  the  Asylum 
and  of  the  Superintendent  of  the  Hospital  may  be 
taken  by  the  Treasurer  as  sufficient  authority  for 
entries  in  his  books,  in  accordance  with  said  accounts." 
May  7,  Mrs.  Girdler  was  requested  to  purchase  a  suit- 
able wedding-gift  to  be  presented  to  Thomas  W. 
Hickford  and  Elizabeth  MTntire,  as  a  token  of  the 
appreciation  by  the  Trustees  of  their  long  and  faith- 
ful services  at  the  Hospital.  May  21,  the  subject  of 
autopsies  was  referred  to  Mr.  Bowditch,  who,  on 
June  4,  made  a  report,  which  was  accepted,  and 
ordered  to  be  placed  on  file.  The  Building  Com- 
mittee reported,  that  the  new  west  wing  cost  $29,500  ; 
east  wing,  $28,000 ;  furnishing,  $19,000 ;  repairing 
centre,  rebuilding  old  east  wing  cellar  throughout, 
three  reservoirs,  copper  gutters,  old  kitchen,  outside 
painting,  $24,000 ;  new  kitchen,  $16,500 ;  autopsy- 
room,  sheds,  chains,  roads,  sodding,  fences,  $3,000 : 
total,  $120,000.  On  July  2,  a  new  ventilation  of  the 
north  wing  of  the  Asylum  was  ordered.  Aug.  16, 
Drs.  W.  O.  Johnson  and  R.  W.  Oliphant  were  chosen 
Hor;.se  Physicians,  Dr.  D.  D.  Slade  and  W.  H. 
Thorndike  House  Surgeons ;  John  E.  Hathaway 
being  re-elected  Apothecary,  ^ov.  5,  House  Phy- 
sicians and  Surgeons  were  ordered  to  carry  forward 
the  Indexes  of  the  Medical  and  Surgical  Records,  as 
recommended    by   Dr.    Thayer.     Nov.    19,   "  Voted, 


352  DEATH    OF    DR.    HALE. 

that  the  members  of  this  Board  have  heard  with  pro- 
found emotion  of  the  decease  of  Dr.  Enoch  Hale, 
late  one  of  the  Visiting  Physicians  of  the  Hospital." 
"  Voted  that  the  Trustees,  while  they  mourn  his  loss, 
in  common  with  their  fellow-citizens,  as  one  of  the 
most  distinguished  and  useful  members  of  the  pro- 
fession which  he  adorned,  have  especial  cause  for 
regret  in  the  fact,  that  by  his  loss  the  institution  com- 
mitted to  their  charge  is  deprived  of  one  of  its  oldest, 
most  useful,  and  most  successful  medical  officers." 

Dec.  3,  1848,  the  Trustees  request  the  Admit- 
ting Physician  to  aim  at  an  equality  in  number  of 
male  and  female  patients  at  Hospital.  Dec.  17, 
Messrs.  Lawrence  and  Mills  were  appointed  to  pre- 
pare the  annual  report.  This  report  occupies  five 
pages,  and,  with  the  documents  annexed,  forms  a 
pamphlet  of  thirty-two  pages.  It  mentions  the  in- 
come of  the  year  as  $17,225;  the  property  as  being 
1154,133.82  ;  being  a  reduction  of  $13,959.06,  caused 
by  extensive  alterations  and  repairs  at  Asylum,  and 
the  final  payments  for  the  enlargement  of  the  Hos- 
pital. It  states  that  the  bequests  of  Messrs.  John 
Redman  and  William  Oliver  have  not  yet  been  re- 
ceived. They  probably  will  not  be  for  several  years 
to  come.  It  mentions  the  donation  of  John  D.  Wil- 
liams, of  a  store  valued  at  $15,000;  now  worth 
$17,000,  and  rented  for  $1,050;  and  says,"  Since  the 


NOTICE    OF    DR.    HALe's    DEATH.  353 

closing  of  the  Treasurer's  account,  this  legacy  has 
been  gratefully  accepted  by  the  Trustees,  who  have 
tendered  to  the  representatives  of  the  deceased 
their  acknowledgments  for  this  last  evidence  of  his 
bounty."  The  report  thus  notices  the  death  of 
Dr.  Hale :  — 

"  The  institution  has,  within  the  past  year,  been  called 
upon  to  lament  the  loss  of  one  of  their  oldest  and  most 
valued  officers.  Dr.  Enoch  Hale,  one  of  the  Visiting  Phy- 
sicians of  the  Hospital  since  1838,  died  on  the  12th  of 
November  last,  in  the  58th  year  of  his  age.  Dr.  Hale  was 
widely  known,  as  well  from  his  devotion  to  his  own  profes- 
sion, in  which  he  held  a  distinguished  position  from  an 
early  period  of  his  life,  as  from  his  ardent  zeal  in  the 
pursuit  of  other  branches  of  science.  In  the  performance 
of  his  duties  at  the  Hospital,  he  evinced  in  a  remarkable 
degree  that  fidelity  and  tenderness  of  feeling  which  in  his 
private  practice  gained  for  him  many  friends,  who  regarded 
him  with  affection  and  respect.  His  whole  life  was  graced 
by  a  purity  of  heart  which  won  the  confidence  of  all  who 
were  in  any  way  associated  with  him  here,  and  which,  we 
may  humbly  trust,  has  won  for  him  its  high  reward  in 
heaven." 

Weekly  expense  of  each  patient  at  Hospital,  $4.73  ; 
being  ninety-one  cents  less  than  preceding  year.  The 
expenses  at  the  Asylum  were  $33,130.09;  the  re- 
ceipts, $36,506.52.  Its  inmates  at  end  of  the  year, 
seventy-seven  males,  eighty-four  females :  total,  a 
hundred    and    sixty-one.     It    appears    that    "  during 

45 


354  DEVISE    OF    JOHN    D.  WILLIAMS. 

the  year  extensive  alterations  have  been  made  in 
the  north  wing  of  the  Asylum,  amounting  nearly 
to  the  entire  remodelling  of  the  interior  of  that 
portion  of  the  building,"  at  a  cost  of  somewhat 
more  than  six  thousand  dollars.  Dr.  Bell's  report 
contains  a  detailed  statement  of  these  alterations, 
and  some  important  remarks  on  modes  of  ventila- 
tion generally,  and  a  statement  of  means  here  re- 
sorted to.  In  interest  and  importance  it  does  not 
fall  behind  his  reports  of  former  years.  Dec.  29, 
in  Hospital,  sixty-four  males,  thirty-nine  females : 
Americans,  thirty-nine ;  foreigners,  sixty-four :  total, 
a  hundred  and  three. 

Jan.  12,  1849,  a  letter  from  Dr.  Charles  T.  Jack- 
son, with  many  accompanying  documents,  was  pre- 
sented by  the  Chairman,  and  laid  on  the  table.  "  A 
communication  from  Moses  Williams,  Esq.,  was  re- 
ceived and  read,  informing  this  Board  that  his  late 
brother,  John  D.  Williams,  devised  to  this  institution 
the  store  No.  17  and  18,  Blackstone  Street,  in  Boston, 
upon  certain  conditions  and  for  certain  purposes 
expressed  in  his  will,  an  extract  from  which  was 
also  sent.  Whereupon  voted  that  the  Trustees 
gratefully  accept  this  devise,  acknowledging  in  it 
a  renewed  instance  of  that  bounty  to  which  upon 
other  occasions  the  institution  has  been  so  largely 
indebted  ;  the  said  real  estate  to  be  always  retained 


FURTHER    ETHER-CONTROVERSY    DECLINED.         355 

unsold,  and  the  income  thereof  applied  to  the  sup- 
port of  free  beds  in  the  Hospital,  as  directed  by 
said  testator."  Jan.  17,  a  printed  "memorial"  of 
the  Messrs.  Lord,  in  behalf  of  Dr.  C.  T.  Jackson, 
was  several  days  since  transmitted  to  each  Trustee 
of  this  institution,  asking  a  revision  of  the  views 
expressed  in  the  last  annual  report  respecting  the 
ether-discovery ;  and  a  letter  from  Dr.  Jackson,  with 
various  accompanying  documents,  was  at  the  last 
meeting  laid  before  the  Board.  And  letters  upon 
the  same  subject  from  Theodore  Metcalf,  Esq.,  and 
Dr.  A.  A.  Gould,  having  also  been  received,  it  was 
"  voted  that  any  further  action  of  the  Board  in 
relation  to  the  ether-controversy  is  wholly  unneces- 
sary." "  Voted  also  that  copies  of  the  above  vote 
be  transmitted  to  Dr.  Jackson  and  to  Dr.  Morton 
respectively." 

Jan.  24,  Dr.  Thayer  presented  his  second  volume 
of  the  Medical  Index.  The  Steward  was  authorized 
to  hire  the  Joy  Farm  for  one  year  at  five  hundred 
dollars.  Copies  of  the  letters  of  Mr.  Metcalf  and 
Dr.  Gould,  asked  for  by  the  attorneys  of  Dr.  Jack- 
son, were  refused  ;  a  similar  request  from  Dr.  Morton 
having  been  previously  declined. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Corporation  in 
January,  1849,  the  same  Trustees  were  re-elected  ; 
William  S.  Bullard,  Esq.,  being  chosen  by  the  Visit- 


356  BEQUEST    OF    B.    R.    NICHOLS. 

ors  in  place  of  Mr.  Edmands,  who  had  declined  a 
re-election,  and  was  thanked  for  his  services.  Feb. 
18,  all  the  Medical  and  Surgical  Officers,  Sec,  were 
re-elected ;  and  Dr.  D.  Humphreys  Storer  was  chosen 
a  Visiting  Physician,  in  place  of  Dr.  Hale,  deceased ; 
and  Dr.  Samuel  L.  Abbot,  the  Admitting  Physician, 
in  place  of  Dr.  Thayer.  Fifteen  hundred  copies  of 
the  annual  report  were  ordered.  March  4,  Messrs. 
Rogers  and  AVigglesworth  were  chosen  a  Standing 
Committee  on  the  library ;  and  fifty  dollars  was 
appropriated  towards  the  medical  library.  It  was 
also  "  voted  that,  in  all  cases,  letters  of  guardianship 
shall  be  required  to  be  taken  out,  or  the  removal 
of  the  patient  from  the  Asylum  insisted  on,  in  all 
cases  whenever,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Superintend- 
ent and  the  Visiting  Committee,  it  shall  be  thought 
expedient." 

May  20,  the  executors  of  the  late  Benjamin  R. 
Nichols  transmitted  six  thousand  dollars,  being  the 
amount  bequeathed  by  him  to  the  institution.  "  The 
Trustees  accept  with  gratitude  this  munificent  be- 
quest, and  tender  to  the  executors  their  thanks  for 
the  prompt  and  liberal  manner  in  which  they  have 
carried  into  effect  the  intentions  of  the  testator." 
June  8,  the  Visiting  Committee's  record  states,  "  Told 
Jolin  Ferris,  that,  if  he  was  again  found  smoking 
in  the  ward,  he  would  be  discharged  immediately." 


ELECTION    OF    OFFICERS.  357 

Sunday,  Aug.  12,  1849,  the  record  reads,  "An  ad- 
journed meeting  of  the  Board  was  held  at  the 
Hospital,  after  evening  service.  The  Secretary, 
having  recently  met  with  a  severe  railroad  accident, 
was  unable  to  attend,  and  desired  me  to  act  in  his 
behalf.  At  the  hour  appointed  for  the  meeting, 
there  was  a  violent  storm ;  and  most  of  the  Board 
pass  their  summer  months  in  the  country.  The 
result  was,  that  not  a  single  member  of  the  Board 
attended,  a  circumstance  which  probably  never  hap- 
pened before.*  Many  years  ago,  on  one  occasion, 
I  was  the  only  member  present.  N.  I.  Bowditch." 
Aug.  20,  Drs.  Charles  I).  Homans  and  Charles 
G.  Adams  were  elected  House  Surgeons ;  and,  on 
Aug.  24,  Drs.  Calvin  Ellis  and  Waldo  J.  Burnett, 
House  Physicians ;  John  E.  Hathaway  being  re- 
elected House  Apothecary.  Sept.  16,  Ur.  Holmes 
declined  a  re-election  as  Visiting  Physician.  Nov. 
4,  a  communication  from  the  Medical  Officers,  as  to 
a  change  in  the  names  and  qualifications  of  the 
House  Officers,  and  as  to  special  rooms  for  patients 
whose  presence  in  the  wards  is  injurious  to  other 
patients,  was  referred  to  Messrs.  Bowditch  and  Law- 
rence, who,  on  the  first  subject  submitted  to  them, 

*  It  had  happened  once  before,  and  has  happened  once  since.  And  there 
liave  been  various  occasions  when  only  one  Trustee  was  present ;  viz.  June 
14,  1835,  Mr.  Bond ;  Jan.  5,  1836,  Mr.  Tuckerman ;  Aug.  6,  1843,  Mr.  An- 
drews ;  Aug.  8,  1847,  Mr,  Hooper,  &c.  &c. 


358  THEODORE    LYMAN. 

reported  in  favor  of  the  proposed  change.  Nov.  18, 
gas  was  ordered  to  be  introduced  into  the  Hospital, 
under  the  superintendence  of  Mr.  Dexter.  Dec.  16, 
Messrs.  Bullard  and  Wigglesworth  were  appointed 
to  prepare  the  annual  report.  This  report  occupies 
six  pages,  and,  with  the  accompanying  documents, 
forms  a  pamphlet  of  twenty-three  pages.  It  states  the 
income  of  the  year  at  $22,620.51,  —  the  property, 
exclusive  of  reversionary  interests  and  the  edifices, 
&c.  at  the  two  departments,  at  $169,466.51  ;  the 
part  invested  and  yielding  income  being  $156,898.93. 
The  present  income  is  shown  to  be  insufficient  for 
the  wants  of  the  Hospital,  without  annual  aid  from 
the  benevolent.  It  contains  the  following  appro- 
priate notice  of  two  deceased  benefactors  :  — 

"  During  the  past  year,  we  have  been  called  to  mourn  the 
death  of  the  Vice-President  of  this  Corporation,  the  Hon. 
Theodore  Lyman,  a  gentleman  whose  polished  manners 
and  cultivated  mind  made  him  an  ornament  of  the  social 
circle;  whose  ability,  moral  worth,  and  public  spirit,  gained 
him  the  esteem  and  confidence  of  his  fellow-citizens,  and 
raised  him  to  the  head  of  our  municipal  government ;  whose 
words  of  kindness  and  acts  of  charity  are  held  in  grateful 
remembrance  by  many  hearts  ;  and  whose  munificent  dona- 
tions and  bequests,  particularly  those  to  the  State  Reform 
School,  place  him  in  the  front  rank  of  the  founders  and 
benefactors  of  benevolent  institutions  in  this  common- 
wealth. 

"  The  past  year  has  also  witnessed  the  decease  of  another 


JOHN    BROMFIELD's    BEQUESTS.  359 

public  benefactor,  John  Bromfield,  Esq.,  whose  will  con- 
tained, among  many  other  munificent  bequests  to  public 
objects,  one  of  forty  thousand  dollars  to  this  institution. 
One  half  of  this  sum  is  bequeathed  to  the  Hospital  in  Bos- 
ton, the  other  half  to  the  M'Lean  Asylum.  This  bequest, 
however,  like  some  others  above  alluded  to,  is  reversionary, 
and  does  not  add  to  the  present  means  of  the  institution. 
Mr.  Bromfield's  generosity  and  public  spirit  had  been  already 
evinced  in  a  conspicuous  manner  by  the  donation  which  he 
made,  a  few  years  since,  of  twenty-five  thousand  dollars, 
to  the  Boston  Athenaeum.  Notwithstanding  these  acts  of 
liberality,  Mr.  Bromfield  was  not  a  seeker  of  notice  or  of 
praise.  His  habits  were  retired,  and  his  manner  unpretend- 
ing. He  was  remarkable  for  integrity,  for  sound  judgment, 
and  for  quiet  resolution.  Whatever  he  believed  to  be  his 
duty,  he  did.  He  is  remembered  for  his  public  bounty  ; 
but  he  deserves  as  much  respect  for  his  private  virtues. 
Those  who  knew  him  best  esteemed  him  most." 

Mr.  Girdler's  report  contains  the  usual  statistics, 
and  shows  the  weekly  expense  of  each  patient  to 
have  been  $4.55.  The  expenses  of  the  Asylum  were 
$37,601  57;  the  net  receipts,  $38,988.31;  and  this 
department  has  been  crowded  through  the  year. 
The  report  states  that  but  little  has  been  expended 
on  the  buildings.  It  mentions  the  introduction  of 
gas  into  the  Hospital.  Dr.  Bell's  report  is  quite 
brief,  occupying  six  pages.  It  continues  the  table 
of  admissions  and  results  from  former  reports.  It 
mentions  the  death  of  no  less  than  three  heads  of 
similar  institutions,  and  closes  as  follows :  — 


1360  DR.  bell's  report. 

"  Left  almost  at  the  head  of  the  list  of  seniority  in  this 
vocation,  I  realize  in  their  premature  removal  not  only  the 
uncertainties  of  life,  but  the  heavy  weight  and  wearing 
responsibilities  upon  the  human  constitution,  inseparable 
from  the  care  of  the  insane,  however  fully  one  may  be 
sustained  by  every  aid  of  sufficient  and  most  competent 
fellow-laborers  ;  and  I  cannot  but  look  forward  to  a  period, 
not  far  removed,  when,  with  a  consciousness  of  a  full  day's 
work  completed  (a  day  which  thus  far,  in  all  my  relations 
to  your  Board,  to  the  medical  profession,  and  the  com- 
munity, has  been  all  sunshine) ,  I  may  ask  a  discharge  from 
your  generous  and  grateful  service." 

Dec.  28,  males  sixty-five,  females  forty-five,  —  total, 
one  hundred  and  ten, —  in  Hospital.  Americans, 
paying  thirteen,  free  thirty ;  foreigners,  paying  ten, 
free  fifty-seven. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Corporation,  in 
January,  1850,  Robert  Hooper,  Esq.,  w^as  elected 
Vice-President,  hi  place  of  the  lamented  Theodore 
Lyman,  deceased ;  and  G.  Howland  Shaw,  Esq.,  was 
elected  a  Trustee,  in  place  of  Mr.  Hoopei',  who  was 
thanked  for  his  long  and  valuable  services.  He  had 
been  a  Trustee  thirteen  years,  and  Chairman  of  the 
Board  for  nearly  eight  years ;  displaying  a  zeal, 
fidelity,  and  ability  in  which  he  has  not  been  sur- 
passed by  any  of  his  predecessors.  Feb.  3,  Mr. 
Bowditch  was  elected  Chairman.  All  the  Medical 
and  Surgical  Officers  were  re-elected ;  except  that 
Dr.  George  C.  Shattuck,  jun.,  was  chosen  as  one  of 


DR.  fisher's  death.  361 

the  Visiting  Physicians,  in  place  of  Dr.  Holmes, 
resigned.  The  same  Standing  Committees  were  re- 
appointed. Fifteen  hundred  copies  of  the  annual 
report  were  ordered  to  be  printed. 

Feb.  17,  a  communication  from  Thomas  P.  Gush- 
ing, Executor  of  Henry  Todd,  was  received,  with  an 
extract  from  his  will ;  and  it  was  voted,  ■•'  that  the 
Trustees  gratefully  accept  the  legacy  of  five  thousand 
dollars  bequeathed  to  this  institution  by  the  late 
Henry  Todd,  upon  the  conditions  contained  in  his 
will."  The  number  of  free  beds  in  the  institution  at 
his  death,  exclusive  of  those  supported  by  annual 
subscribers,  is  stated  as  being  forty-three.  The  sub- 
ject of  the  will  of  John  D.  Williams  was  referred  to 
the  Chairman  and  the  Visiting  Committee,  to  decide 
on  the  number  of  free  beds  at  the  disposal  of  the 
executors  of  his  will.  On  March  3,  the  Committee 
made  a  written  report,  which  is  recorded,  recommend- 
ing that  one  free  bed  be  placed  at  the  disposal  of 
each  of  the  four  executors  named  in  the  will.  The 
extract  from  the  will  is  recorded  with  this  report. 

March  17,  1850,  it  was  "voted  that  in  the  recent 
decease  of  Dr.  John  D.  Fisher,  late  a  physician  of 
the  Hospital,  this  Board  deeply  regrets  the  loss  of  an 
officer,  who,  to  high  scientific  attainments,  united 
amiable  and  unassuming  manners  and  the  greatest 
kindness  of  heart ;  one  who  has  uniformly  discharged 

•46 


362  ADDITION    TO    MALE    LODGE. 

in  a  most  zealous,  faithful,  and  acceptable  manner 
his  duties  toward  this  institution."  Dr.  Marshall  S. 
Perry  was  elected  to  fill  this  vacancy.  April  17,  Dr. 
Bell  was  authorized  to  add  a  second  story  to  the  male 
lodge.  May  5,  a  recent  official  report  of  the  Directors 
of  the  House  of  Industry  was  discussed  ;  and  it  was 
thought  not  to  require  any  notice  of  this  Board.   May 

17,  an  invitation  to  attend  the  next  meeting  of  the 
Association  of  Medical  Superintendents  of  American 
Institutions  for  the  Insane,  to  be  held  in  Boston,  June 

18,  was  received  and  read.  The  Association  met 
one  evening  at  the  Asylum  in  Somerville.  The  Vice- 
President  and  several  of  the  Trustees  attended.  It 
was  a  very  interesting  and  agreeable  occasion.  June 
22,  Dr.  iVbbot  had  leave  to  visit  Europe  for  a  few 
months  ;  Dr.  J.  C.  Dalton,  jun.,  being  appointed  to 
act  till  his  return.  The  subject  of  post-mortem  opera- 
tions was  discussed,  and  referred  to  the  Visiting  Com- 
mittee ;  and,  on  July  22,  Mr.  Bowditch,  in  behalf  of 
this  Committee,  made  a  report,  which  was  accepted 
and  recorded,  suggesting  precautions  to  be  used  to 
prevent  their  being  performed  when  prohibited  by 
the  friends  and  family  of  the  deceased.  Aug.  13,  J. 
Nelson  Borland  and  Albert  H.  Blanchard  were  chosen 
House  Pupils  in  the  Medical  department ;  and  Free- 
man J.  Bumstead  and  Charles  H.  Hildreth,  House 
Pupils  in  the  Surgical  department ;  Mr.  Hathaway 
being  re-elected  Apothecary. 


DEATH    OF    SIGNOR    SARTI.  f363 

Sept.  3,  the  Chairman  and  Mr.  Rogers  were  ap- 
pohited  a  Committee  on  the  subject  of  a  late  post- 
mortem examination,  which  had  given  dissatisfaction 
to  the  friends  of  the  deceased.  Sept.  10,  the  Com- 
mittee reported ;  and  a  special  meeting  was  called 
upon  the  subject  for  Sept.  13  ;  at  which  Dr.  Jacob 
Bigelow,  Dr.  Dalton,  the  Superintendent,  and  Mr. 
Bumstead  the  House  Surgical  Pupil,  were  present, 
and  stated  the  facts  of  the  case  alluded  to  ;  and  Dr. 
Bigelow  presented  his  views  on  the  subject  of  autop- 
sies in  general.  Five  votes  were  then  adopted,  pre- 
scribing very  definitely  certain  rules  for  the  future. 
Oct.  11,  a  statement  of  the  facts  and  opinions  ascer- 
tained and  expressed  on  this  occasion,  prepared  by 
the  Chairman,  was  read,  and  ordered  to  be  placed 
on  file. 

Signer  Antonio  Sarti,  a  distinguished  anatomist, 
and  the  proprietor  of  some  very  beautiful  and  expen- 
sive wax-preparations,  who  had  recently  been  deliver- 
ing public  lectures,  died  at  the  Hospital,  Sept.  21. 
The  Trustees,  considering  his  services  and  labors  in 
the  cause  of  science,  preferred  to  make  no  charge  for 
his  board  while  in  the  institution.  The  Chairman, 
accordingly,  waited  on  Madame  Sarti,  and  communi- 
cated to  her  this  vote. 

Oct.  16,  the  subject  of  putting  an  appropriate 
inscription  on  the  statue  of  Apollo,  presented  by  Mr. 


364  DONATION    OF    WILLIAM    APPLETON. 

Everett,  was  referred  to  the  Visiting  Committee,  with 
full  powers.  The  claim  for  damages  against  the 
Grand  Junction  Railroad,  and  the  right  of  passing 
Craigie's  Bridge  free  of  toll,  were  referred  to  the 
Chairman  and  the  Visiting  Committee. 

At  a  special  meeting  held  Nov.  9,  the  following 
preamble  and  vote,  as  prepared  by  the  Chairman,  were 
adopted  and  recorded :  "  A  communication  having 
been  received  from  William  Appleton,  Esq.,  President 
of  this  Corporation,  announcing  his  donation  of  twenty 
thousand  dollars  for  the  erection  of  buildings  at  the 
M'Lean  Asylum  for  the  Insane,  designed  especially 
for  such  patients  as  shall  have  previously  dwelt  in 
residences  of  a  spacious  and  cheerful  character,  and 
with  the  view  of  affording,  as  far  as  possible,  to  this 
the  wealthiest  class  of  our  inmates  the  accustomed 
comforts  and  conveniences  of  home,  —  voted  that  the 
Trustees  gratefully  accept  this  munificent  gift.  They 
recognize  in  it  the  same  practical  wisdom  and  the 
same  true  benevolence  that  have  heretofore  furnished 
to  this  institution  a  fund  of  ten  thousand  dollars,  the 
income  of  which  is  to  be  for  ever  applied  in  aid  of  our 
poorer  patients.  The  enlarged  philanthropy  which 
has  thus  provided  for  the  equal  relief  of  rich  and 
poor,  when  suffering  under  the  greatest  of  human 
deprivations,  will  ever  entitle  Mr.  Appleton  to  a  high 
rank  among  the  benefactors  of  this  community." 


TRIBUTE    TO    DR.    FISHER.  365 

Dec.  15,  Messrs.  Shaw  and  Rogers  were  appointed 
a  Committee  to  prepare  the  annual  report.  This  re- 
port is  nine  pages  in  length,  and,  with  its  accompany- 
ing documents,  makes  a  pamphlet  of  thirty-one  pages. 
It  states  the  income  of  the  year  from  property, 
$16,917.99;  extra  dividend  from  Hospital  Life  In- 
surance Company,  $18,000 ;  free-bed  subscriptions, 
$2,100;  surplus  at  Asylum,  $1,500  :  total,  $38,517.99. 
The  property  invested  yielding  income  is  stated  at 
$171,119.98.  It  mentions  the  investment  of  fifteen 
tliousand  dollars  of  the  income.  It  gratefully  ac- 
knowledges the  receipt  of  five  thousand  dollars  from 
T.  P.  Cushing,  Esq.,  Executor  of  Mr.  Henry  Todd, 
and  thanks  the  annual  subscribers  for  free  beds.  It 
pays  the  following  just  tribute  to  one  recently  de- 
ceased :  — 

"  Within  the  past  year,  the  institution  has  been  called  to 
lament  the  death  of  one  of  its  valued  officers,  —  the  late 
Dr.  John  D.  Fisher,  one  of  the  pliysicians  of  the  Hospital. 
To  high  attainments  in  other  brandies  of  science  than  the 
one  to  which  he  especially  devoted  himself,  he  united  the 
most  amiable  and  unassuming  manners,  and  the  greatest 
kindness  oi'  heart.  To  this  institution  he  uniformly  dis- 
charged his  duties  in  a  most  zealous,  faithful,  and  acceptable 
manner." 

It  mentions  the  expenses  of  the  Hospital  department, 
$29,024;  and,  deducting  $4,226.27  received  from 
paying  patients,  shows  that  nearly  $25,000  a  year 


366  THE    ASYLUM    SUFFICIENTLY    LARGE. 

must  be  drawn  frdm  the  general  funds  ;  being  nearly 
ten  thousand  dollars  more  than  our  average  income. 
The  weekly  expense  of  each  patient  was  $4.90.  One 
startling  fact  is  thus  recorded  :  "  Of  the  wJiole  number 
of  2^(^tients  in  the  Ilosjriial  during  the  year,  nearly 
two-thirds  have  heen  foreigners.'" 

At  the  Asylum,  on  Jan.  1,  there  remained  a  hun- 
dred males,  a  hundred  females  ;  the  amount  charged 
for  board  being  $44,183.37,  and  the  net  expenses 
$40,623.38  ;  sums  greater  than  ever  before.  Special 
notice  is  invited  to  Dr.  Bell's  report,  as  containing 
much  of  interest  to  the  Corporation  and  to  the  public. 
The  Committee  fully  concur  with  Dr.  Bell,  that  this 
department  has  reached  what  should  be  deemed  its 
full  capacity ;  the  average  number  of  inmates  for  the 
year  being  two  hundred  and  one. 

The  Committee  say :  "  At  the  Hospital  in  Boston, 
no  change  of  importance  has  been  made,  or  is  be- 
lieved to  be  required."  An  extended  notice  of  the 
two  gifts  of  Mr.  Appleton,  ten  and  twenty  thousand 
dollars,  closes  thus  :  — 

"  The  Trustees  have  gratefully  accepted  this  donation.  It 
is  unnecessary  to  comment  upon  its  value,  or  upon  the  liberal 
philanthropy  which  has  prompted  and  guided  the  hand  of 
the  giver.  While  it  increases  so  largely  the  debt  of  grati- 
tude which  the  Asylum  already  owed  to  him  who  has  been 
its  continued  benefactor,  it  leaves  nothing  apparently  wanting 


NIGHT-WATCH    AT    ASYLUM.  367 

for  the  perfection  of  that  plan  for  complete  relief  to  all 
classes  of  persons,  which  has  ever  been  the  design  of  the 
institution." 

Capt.  Girdler's  report  occupies  four  pages,  and 
contains  the  annual  analyses.  Dr.  Bell's  report 
occupies  nine  pages,  and  will  be  found  to  merit  the 
commendation  of  the  Committee.  Dec.  27,  at  the 
Hospital,  Americans,  eighteen  paying,  twenty-six 
free ;  foreigners,  thirteen  paying,  jifty-six  free : 
total,  a  hundred  and   thirteen. 

Dec.  29,  the  subject  of  the  expediency  of  employ- 
ing a  night-watch  at  the  Asylum,  as  a  protection 
against  fire,  was  referred  to  the  Visiting  Committee, 
to  report  at  the  next  meeting.  Mr.  Hathaway's 
salary  was  fixed  at  four  hundred  dollars ;  he  agree- 
ing to  remain  two  years  on  those  terms,  if  re-elected. 
Jan.  15,  1851,  the  Committee  on  the  subject  reported 
in  favor  of  the  establishment  of  a  night-watch.  Dr. 
Bell  and  the  Committee  were  of  opinion,  that,  to  a 
great  extent,  the  security  of  a  night-watch  was  al- 
ready incidentally  enjoyed  ;  but,  in  view  of  the  late 
melancholy  destruction  by  fire  and  loss  of  life  at  the 
institution  in  Augusta,  it  was  thought  altogether 
advisable  to  have  a  special  attendant  charged  with 
this  particular  duty.  If  not  actually  needed  for  the 
safety  of  the  institution,  it  would  serve  "  to  ward  off 
public  opinion."     Jan.  22,  a  letter  claiming  compen- 


368  DR.  hayward's  resignation. 

sation  for  a  cow  killed  while  boarded  at  the  Asylum 
was  referred  to  the  Visitmg  Committee,  with  full 
powers.  Dr.  Thayer  presented  another  volume  of 
his  Index  of  the  Medical  Records,  and  was  thanked 
for  the  satisfactory  manner  in  which  the  same  was 
executed. 

At  the  annual  meeting,  Jan.  22,  1851,  John  A. 
Lowell,  Esq.,  having  been  for  several  months  absent 
in  Europe,  and  intending  to  remain  absent  all  this 
year,*  the  Board  of  Visitors  elected  in  his  stead  Dr. 
William  J.  Dale  to  be  a  Trustee  of  the  institution. 
It  is  believed  that  Dr.  Dale  is  the  first  practising 
physician  who  has  ever  held  a  seat  as  Trustee ; 
though  Dr.  Robbins  had  practised  for  several  years, 
and  B.  D.  Greene  and  Charles  Amory,  Esqs.,  had 
studied  that  profession.  Feb.  2,  all  the  Medical 
and  Surgical  Officers  were  re-elected,  and  those  of 
the  two  departments  and  the  Standing  Committees 
re-appointed. 

A  letter  from  Dr.  George  Hayward,  declining 
re-election  as  one  of  the  Visiting  Surgeons  of  the 
Hospital,  was  read  ;  and  it  was  voted,  that  the  Chair- 
man be  requested  to  call  upon  Dr.  Hayward,  and 
express  to  him  the  unanimous  wishes  of  the  Trustees 


*  When  ISIr.  Lowell  shall  have  returned  from  his  present  tour,  lie  will, 
on  the  occurrence  of  a  vacancy,  receive  a  cordial  welcome  from  his  old  asso- 
ciates, slioukl  he  be  willing  at  a  future  day  to  resume  his  duties  as  a  Trustee. 


VARIOLOID    AT    HOSPITAL.  369 

that  he  should  continue  his  connection  with  the  Hos- 
pital. With  this  request,  so  highly  complimentary 
to  Dr.  Hayward,  he  decided  to  comply.  Fifteen 
hundred  copies  of  the  annual  report  were  ordered  to 
be  printed.  It  was  also  voted,  "  that  the  subject  of 
the  admission  of  patients,  and  of  the  existence  of 
varioloid  in  the  Hospital,  be  referred  to  the  Visiting 
Committee,  to  inquire  whether  there  has  been  any 
neglect  on  the  part  of  the  Admitting  Physician,  or 
other  Medical  Officers  of  the  Hospital."  The  subject 
of  instructing  the  Treasurer  to  open  accounts  in  his 
books,  shoAving  all  the  reversionary  interests  of  this 
Corporation  in  any  property,  was  referred  to  the 
Committee  of  Finance.  In  consequence  of  "  the 
long  and  faithful  services"  of  Mrs.  Mary  E.  Tyler 
as  Matron  of  the  M'Lean  Asylum  for  the  Insane, 
her  salary  was  raised  to  four  hundred  and  fifty  dol- 
lars.* Feb.  16,  the  Visiting  Committee  were  not 
prepared  to  make  a  full  report  on  the  subject  of 
varioloid,  &c.  Mr.  Stevenson  was  appointed  to  con- 
sult with  the  Treasurer  as  to  keeping  one  account 
in  his  books  which  should  show  all  the  receipts  and 
expenditures  of  both  departments  of  the  institution, 
according  to  the  report  and  vote  of  April  2,  1848. 
At   a   special    meeting,  called   by  request   of  the 

*  The  salary  of  Miss  Barber,  the  Female  Supervisor,  was  also  lately- 
raised  to  four  hundred  dollars. 

47 


370  DR.  wilder's  bequest. 

Chairman,  Feb.  24,  a  letter  from  Dr.  James  Jackson, 
on  the  existing  small-pox  and  varioloid,  was  read 
and  referred  to  the  Committee  on  that  subject.  All 
new  admissions  at  Hospital  were  stopped  till  further 
order  of  the  Board.  It  appeared  that  there  had 
been  nineteen  cases  ;  that  two  had  died ;  *  and  that 
one  patient  (a  little  girl)  was  severely  ill.  The 
Committee,  however,  had  not  fully  completed  their 
labors. 

March  2,  the  following  preamble  and  vote,  as 
proposed  by  the  Chairman,  were  adopted :  —  "A 
communication  from  the  executors  of  the  will  of  Dr. 
Charles  W.  Wilder,  of  Leominster,  announcing  a 
legacy  of  twenty  thousand  dollars  for  the  support 
of  free  beds  at  the  Hospital,  was  read ;  and  it  was 
thereupon  voted  that  the  Trustees  gratefully  accept 
this  truly  munificent  bequest ;  and,  in  so  doing, 
they  would  notice  two  circumstances  by  which  its 
value  is  especially  enhanced.  Large  as  it  is  in 
itself,  the  gift  comes  not,  as  might  have  been  sup- 
posed, from  one  of  the  wealthiest  of  our  own  citizens, 
but  has  been  contributed  from  the  more  moderate 
fortunes  of  one  of  our  country-towns.     It  is  believed 

*  One  was  David  Cummings,  who  died  Jan.  23.  His  occupation  was 
that  of  tender  of  the  furnace.  He  was  a  most  industrious  and  worthy  man, 
and  had  been  in  tlie  employ  of  tlie  institution  several  years.  His  sphere, 
indeed,  was  luimble  ;  but  he  performed  avcII  all  the  duties  of  life.  And  wlio 
of  us  can  hope  to  be  entitled  to  a  higiier  eulogy  ? 


VOTES    OF    TRUSTEES.  371 

to  be  the  first  and  only  bequest  ever  received  by 
this  institution  from  a  member  of  that  profession 
w^hich,  more  than  any  other,  is  competent  fully  to 
appreciate  the  importance  of  this  public  charity,  and 
to  form  an  accurate  opinion  as  to  the  judgment  and 
fidelity  with  which  its  concerns  have  been  admin- 
istered. It  is  a  gift,  noble  in  itself ;  a  gift  from  the 
country  to  the  poor  of  the  city,  from  a  physician  in 
aid  of  the  sick  and  the  suffering.  Voted  that  the 
amount  thus  bequeathed  be  known  as  the  Wilder 
Fund  for  Free  Beds  ;  the  income  thereof  to  be  for 
ever  applied  as  directed  by  the  benevolent  testator." 
Copies  of  these  votes  were  ordered  to  be  transmitted 
to  the  executors.  An  extract  from  the  will  is  re- 
corded. It  makes  the  legacy  payable,  half  in  mort- 
gages, half  in  railroad  stocks,  —  the  latter,  at  present, 
are  depressed  in  value,  —  the  cash-amount,  perhaps, 
not  over  six  thousand  dollars.  Dr.  Wilder  left  four 
children,  and  about  ninety  thousand  dollars  in  all ; 
thus  devoting  to  public  uses  a  very  large  share  of 
all  he  was  worth. 

Twenty-five  dollars  was  voted  in  aid  of  a  patient 
who  has  become  blind.  "  A  communication  from  the 
Physicians  and  Surgeons,  suggesting  that  the  wards 
be  distinguished  by  placing  on  their  entrances  names 
of  individuals  who  have  been  celebrated  in  the  his- 
tory of  medicine  and  surgery,  was  read  ;  and  the  sub- 


372  YOTES    OF    TRUSTEES 

ject  was  referred  to  a  Special  Committee,  consisting 
of  Messrs.  Bowditch  and  Stevenson." 

The  Committee  upon  the  subject  of  varioloid  made 
their  final  report,  —  stating  that  one  patient  who  prob- 
ably had  the  disease  was  admitted,  Dec.  16  ;  one  who 
certainly  had  it,  on  Jan.  8  ;  that  there  was  no  thor- 
ough general  vaccination  of  the  patients  in  the  whole 
house  till  Jan.  28  ;  that  the  total  number  of  cases  was 
twenty,  and  of  deaths  two  ;  and  the  following  votes 
were  adopted :  "  Voted  that  there  was  a  positive 
violation  of  the  rules  of  the  institution  on  the  part 
of  Dr.  Abbot,  in  admitting  Miss  Eunice  B.  Bridge 
as  a  patient,  without  having  first  seen  her  ;  *  and  the 
fact  that  the  patient  so  admitted  had  the  varioloid  is 
evidence  of  the  importance  of  a  strict  observance  of 
said  rules ;  and  the  Trustees  take  this  occasion  to 
urge  on  Dr.  Abbot  the  necessity  of  the  greatest 
caution  in  all  cases  of  admission  of  patients,  where 
there  is  the  slightest  reason  to  suppose  them  affected 
by  this  or  any  other  contagious  disease.  Voted  that 
Dr.  Bowditch  took  seasonable  steps  to  have  all  his 
patients  vaccinated,  and  saw  that  his  orders  were 
executed.  Voted  that  the  other  Visiting  Physicians 
and  Surgeons  then  on  duty  were  the  two  Drs.  Bige- 

*  Dr.  Abbot  is  a  vigilant  and  careful  officer ;  but,  in  tbis  instance,  bad 
been  induced  by  motives  of  courtesy  towards  a  brother-physician  to  rely  on 
his  certificate  as  to  the  fitness  of  a  patient  who  was  an  inmate  of  his  own 
family. 


AS    TO    VARIOLOID    IN    HOSPITAL.  373 

low  and  Dr.  Hayward.  It  appears  that  these  gentle- 
men gave  orders  for  the  vaccination  of  the  patients  in 
their  wards  ;  but  the  Trustees  have  to  regret  that 
they  did  not  take  the  necessary  steps  to  have  their 
orders  executed  with  the  least  possible  delay.  Voted 
that  there  was  a  want  of  due  care  on  the  part  of  the 
House  Pupils,  and  perhaps  of  some  of  the  attendants, 
in  passing  from  the  patients  ill  with  the  varioloid  to 
visit  patients  in  other  parts  of  the  house.  Voted  that, 
in  the  opinion  of  the  Trustees,  no  pains  should  be 
spared  to  effect  a  complete  separation  of  varioloid 
patients  from  all  other  patients  in  the  house."  These 
votes  were  printed,  and  a  copy  sent  to  each  of  the 
Medical  and  Surgical  Officers. 

The  subject  of  erecting  a  separate  building  for  con- 
tagious or  offensive  cases,  not  to  exceed  two  thou- 
sand dollars  in  cost,  was  referred  to  the  Visiting- 
Committee,  with  full  powers.  March  16,  fifty  dollars 
was  voted  for  the  Medical  Library.  The  Committee 
on  naming  the  wards  made  a  report,  which  was  read 
and  laid  on  the  table  for  future  consideration.  It 
has  not  yet  been  accepted.  It  recommends  the  giving 
to  the  wards  the  names  of  those  who  have  been  the 
chief  benefactors  of  the  institution,  either  by  donations 
or  by  professional  services. 

Voted  that  the  Chairman  be  a  Committee  on  the 
subject  of  the  Lee  donations,  to  consult  with  the  Lee 


374  VOTE    ON    DR.    HAYWARD's    LETTER. 

family,  and  report  to  the  Board.  The  Secretary  was 
instructed  to  procure  a  record-book,  in  which  to  enter 
all  past  and  future  devises  and  bequests  made  to  the 
institution,  extracts  from  wills,  &c. 

A  letter  from  Dr.  George  Hayward,  respecting  a 
recent  vote  of  the  Trustees,  having  been  received,  was 
read,  and  ordered  to  be  placed  on  file  ;  and  the  fol- 
lowing votes  were  passed  :  —  "  Voted  that,  whenever 
a  case  of  varioloid  or  small-pox  shall  occur  in  the 
Hospital,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  all  the  attending 
Physicians  and  Surgeons  to  see  that  all  the  patients 
in  the  Hospital,  whose  cases  will  allow  it,  shall  be 
vaccinated.  Voted  that  the  Secretary  be  directed  to 
send  a  copy  of  the  above  vote  to  Dr.  Hayward,  and 
to  inform  him  that  the  vote  referred  to  in  his  letter 
was  passed  on  the  ground  that  the  course  now  di- 
rected to  be  pursued  in  future  should,  in  the  opinion 
of  the  Trustees,  have  been  pursued  on  the  first  ap- 
pearance of  varioloid  in  the  Hospital,  in  January 
last."  Dr.  Hay  ward's  letter  had  stated  the  fact,  that 
no  case  of  the  disease  had  occurred  in  his  wards ;  * 
and  that,  when  he  was  informed  of  the  disease  being 
in  the  House,  under  such  circumstances  as  to  make 
him  apprehensive  for  the  safety  of  his  own  patients, 

*  No  case  of  varioloid  liail  occurred  in  the  ward  of  Dr.  Howditcli ;  but 
tliere  was  subsequently  a  very  mild  one.  If  the  vaccination  was  in  that 
instance  ineffectual,  it  was  jirobabiy  owing  to  the  constitutional  temperament 
of  the  patient. 


VOTE    IN    HONOR    OF    DR.    HAYWARD.  375 

viz.  on  Jan.  26,  he  took  measures  for  their  immediate 
vaccination. 

March  30,  it  was  ordered  that  patients  be  ad- 
mitted from  and  after  this  day.  The  following  pre- 
amble and  vote,  as  prepared  by  the  Chairman,  were 
unanimously  adopted  :  —  "A  communication  from  Dr. 
George  Hayward,  by  which  he  declines  any  longer 
to  serve  as  one  of  the  Visiting  Surgeons  of  the  Hospi- 
tal, having  been  received  and  read,  it  was  voted  that 
the  Board  sincerely  regret  the  retirement  of  Dr.  Hay- 
ward  from  a  situation  which  for  twenty-five  years  he 
has  filled  with  so  much  honor  to  himself,  and  useful- 
ness to  the  community.  It  was  his  privilege  to  per- 
form the  first  capital  operation  rendered  painless  by 
the  influence  of  ether,  thus  connecting  this  institution 
with  the  establishment  of  the  greatest  discovery  of 
the  age.  His  professional  skill,  his  good  judgment, 
and  his  kindness  towards  the  patients,  manifested 
throughout  this  long  period  of  official  duty,  and  which 
so  recently  induced  the  Trustees  to  request  a  con- 
tinuance of  his  services,  justly  entitle  him  to  grate- 
ful remembrance,  as  having  been  one  of  the  most 
able  and  faithful  officers  of  our  institution." 

Messrs.  Lowell,  Bowditch,  and  the  Treasurer,  were 
appointed  a  Committee  to  receive  Dr.  Wilder's  legacy  ; 
which  duty  they  have  performed.  Messrs.  liogers 
and   Stevenson,  with   ^Ir.  Tyler,  were  appointed  ••  a 


376  REPORT    ON    LEE    DONATIONS. 

Building  Committee  for  the  erection  of  new  buildings 
at  the  Asylum,  according  to  the  terms  of  Hon. 
William  Appleton's  donation."  Dr.  Henry  G.  Clark 
was  elected  successor  to  Dr.  Hay  ward.  April  11, 
Mr.  Hogers  declined  acting  on  the  Building  Com- 
mittee, on  account  of  other  pressing  engagements. 

April  16,  "owing  to  a  storm  so  severe  as  to  render 
it  unsafe  to  cross  the  bridges,  the  usual  quarterly 
meeting  was  not  lield  to-day."*  April  18,  at  a  spe- 
cial meeting  called  at  the  Asylum  by  direction  of  the 
Chairman,  Mr.  Lamb  was  appointed  a  member  of  the 
Building  Committee,  and  the  subject  of  the  erection 
of  the  proposed  buildings  was  discussed. 

The  Chairman  presented  a  report  on  the  Lee  dona- 
tions. It  states  the  original  gift  in  1830  ;  the  separate 
account,  hitherto  kept,  of  the  income  of  it ;  the  vote 
of  the  Trustees  in  December,  1830 ;  the  present 
amount  of  the  fund,  $31,681.33;  that  the  recent 
donation  of  Mr.  Appleton  had  rendered  it  inexpedient 
to  erect  any  other  new  buildings  at  the  Asylum ;  that 
the  Trustees  were  therefore  desirous  of  conferring  the 
name  of  Mr.  Lee  on  the  present  building  for  male 
patients  ;  and  that  the  family  of  Mr.  Lee  state  their 
disinclination  to  have  his  name  given  to  any  building, 
old  or  new,  and  release  the  institution  from  all  obli- 

*  It  was  in  this  storm  that  the  light-liouse  at  Minot's  Ledge  was  de- 
stroyed, and  a  steeple  blown  down  iu  Charlestown. 


THE    LEE    DONATIONS.  377 

gation,  legal  or  otherwise,  by  reason  of  the  vote  be- 
fore referred  to.  They  say,  "  While  we  justly  appre- 
ciate this  proposed  tribute,  we  beg  leave  to  suggest 
the  more  appropriate  name  of  Dix ;  and  we  shall  be 
much  gratified  to  be  so  far  instrumental  in  commemo- 
rating the  services  of  a  lady  in  the  cause  the  donor 
meant  to  aid,  and  which  are  admitted  to  be  without 
parallel."  The  report  closes  with  recommending  the 
adoption  of  the  following  preamble  and  vote : 
"  Whereas  this  Board  hold  in  the  same  grateful 
remembrance  as  did  their  predecessors  the  munifi- 
cence of  the  late  Mr.  Joseph  Lee  and  his  family,  and 
are  desirous  that  it  shonld  never  be  forgotten  by  those 
who  may  come  after  them  ;  and  whereas  the  heirs  of 
Mr.  Lee  have  requested  that  the  Trustees,  instead  of 
giving  his  name  to  the  building'  for  male  patients,  as 
had  been  proposed,  would  give  to  said  building  '  the 
more  appropriate  name  of  Dix  ; '  and  as  this  Board 
entertain  a  very  high  sense  of  the  services  rendered 
by  Miss  Dix  in  the  cause  of  the  insane,  —  voted  that 
they  willingly  accede  to  this  suggestion ;  and  that  the 
building  for  male  patients  at  the  Asylum  be  hence- 
forth known  as  the  Dix  Ward."  This  preamble  and 
vote  were  unanimously  adopted. 

April  22,  the  Treasurer  was  instructed  to  close  the 
separate  account  hitherto  kept  of  the  income  of  the 
Lee   donations.     The   subject   of   the   new  buildings 

48 


378  APPLETON    BUILDINGS. 

proposed  at  the  Asylum  was  further  discussed.  April 
'29,  Dr.  Bell  submitted  plans  and  estimates  for  the 
erection  of  two  buildings,  according  to  the  terms 
of  Mr.  Appleton's  donation ;  and  it  was  thereupon 
"  voted  that  said  plans  be  referred  to  the  Building 
Committee,  with  authority  to  make  such  modifications 
thereof  as  they  think  proper,  and  to  proceed  at  once 
in  the  erection  of  buildings  according  to  said  plans." 
These  plans  were  drawn  up  with  much  taste  and 
judgment.  They  are  for  two-story  buildings,  about 
fifty  feet  square  ;  in  their  exterior  resembling  houses 
recently  erected  in  Brookline  by  Messrs.  J.  D.  Rus- 
sell and  F.  Standish.  These  plans  seemed  to  meet 
with  the  general  approval  of  the  Trustees. 

May  8,  this  afternoon,  his  Excellency  Governor 
Boutwell,  with  the  Honorable  the  Board  of  Visitors, 
made  the  annual  visitation.  They  were  received  by 
the  President  of  the  Corporation  and  the  Chairman 
of  the  Trustees.  It  was  a  visit  made  in  a  simple, 
informal  manner,  and  seemed  highly  gratifying  to  all 
present.  Nothing  was  the  subject  of  unfavorable 
comment,  except  the  Hospital  fence. 

On  May  18,  the  Secretary  laid  before  the  Board 
the  volume  prepared  by  him,  containing  a  record  of 
all  bequests  to  this  institution.  It  is  executed  with 
great  accuracy  and  elegance.  June  2,  the  subject  of 
the  Hospital  fence  was  referred  to  the  Visiting  Com- 


LETTER    OF    MISS    DIX.  379 

mittee.  June  17,  fifteen  hundred  dollars  was  awarded 
as  damages  for  land  in  Somerville  taken  by  the  Grand 
Junction  Railroad  and  Depot  Company. 

At  this  meeting,  the  following  letter  from  Mi^s  D. 
L.  Dix  was  read,  and  ordered  to  be  entered  on  the 
records : — 

"  St.  John's  River,  Florida  East, 
"  May  22. 

"  Dear  Sir,  —  At  this  remote  point  and  late  date,  your 
communication  of  April  18,  addressed  to  Thomas  Lee,  Esq., 
has  reached  me.  This  will  at  once  explain  and  apologize  for 
a  seemingly  uncourteous  delay  in  acknowledging  the  receipt  of 
a  copy  of  the  preamble  and  vote  which,  by  request  of  the 
Messrs.  Lee,  and  unanimous  assent  of  the  Trustees  of  the 
General  Hospital,  gives  my  name  to  a  department  of  that 
institution.  Profoundly  moved  by  a  distinction  so  unex- 
pected, I  own,  that,  while  I  would  ever  avoid  notoriety  and 
popular  applause, — while  I  would  make  the  cause  I  labor 
to  advance,  and  not  myself,  the  centre  of  attention,  I  cannot 
but  be  as  much  gratified  as  I  am  honored  by  this  evidence  of 
esteem  from  those  whose  good  opinion  is  so  kindly  illustrated. 
The  name  which  they  have  united  to  distinguish  it  must  be 
my  care  to  make  more  and  more  worthy  the  place  assigned 
to  it  on  the  walls  of  that  noble  and  Christian  institution, 
which  unfolds  its  portals  to  admit  the  sick  and  heavy-laden, 
which  gives  healing  influences  to  many,  and  blessed  protec- 
tion to  all  who  seek  its  shelter. 

"  Very  respectfully, 

"  D.  L.  Dix. 

"  To  Marcus  Morton,  jun.,  'Esq. 
"  Secretary  of  the  Massacliusetts  General  Hospital." 


380  COCHITUATE    WATER 

July  5,  John  P.  Reynolds  and  Joshua  J.  Ellis  were 
elected  Medical  House  Pupils,  and  Thomas  H.  Gage 
and  Albert  F.  Sawyer  Surgical  House  Pupils,  for  the 
year  ensuing.  July  11,  the  Superintendent  was  "  au- 
thorized to  buy  two  dozen  silver  forks  for  use  of 
the  Hospital ; "  also  to  cause  the  wooden  sidewalk 
to  be  relaid.  On  July  15,  the  Chairman,  Dr.  Bell, 
and  Mr.  Tyler  were  appointed  "  a  Committee  to 
carry  the  Cochituate  water  to  the  Asylum,  with  full 
powers."  This  measure,  when  consummated,  will 
be  found  highly  important  to  the  health  and  comfort 
of  our  patients.  The  thanks  of  the  Corporation  are 
due  to  the  Cochituate  Water  Board,  and  to  the  city 
of  Boston,  for  the  promptness  with  which  this  appli- 
cation was  complied  with.  The  stipulations  required 
by  the  city  of  Charlestown  for  leave  to  lay  the  pipes 
through  their  streets  (such  as  constructing  six  hy- 
drants, &c.)  were  of  so  onerous  a  character,  and  the 
necessity  of  crossing  tlats  owned  by  individuals  whose 
consent  could  not  probably  be  in  all  instances  ob- 
tained, seemed  so  objectionable,  that  the  Committee 
were  led  to  ask  permission  to  introduce  the  water 
along  the  line  of  the  Lowell  Railroad.  The  liberality 
and  courtesy  with  which  this  Corporation  at  once 
acceded  to  their  request,  while  they  lightened  the 
immediate  labors  of  the  Committee,  have  placed  our 
institution   under   great   and  lasting  obligations.     It 


AT   THE    ASYLUM.  381 

is,  indeed,  quite  doubtful  whether  this  beneficial  ar- 
rangement could  otherwise  have  been  carried  into 
effect.  —  Mr.  Tyler  was  authorized  to  employ  a  clerk 
at  the  Asylum,  at  a  salary  not  exceeding  three  hun- 
dred dollars. 

Among  the  most  important  changes  of  this  final 
period  of  the  Hospital-history,  were  the  deaths  of 
Dr.  Hale  and  Dr.  Fisher,  and  the  retirement  of  Dr. 
Hayward.  The  stream  of  public  liberaUty  has  still 
continued  to  flow  towards  the  institution  in  an  undi- 
minished current.  The  munificent  bequests  of  John 
Bromfield,  John  D.  Williams,  Benjamin  R,.  Nichols, 
Henry  Todd,  and  Dr.  Charles  W.  Wilder,  and 
the  additional  donation  of  Hon.  William  Appleton, 
amounting  in  all  to  one  hundred  and  eight  thousand 
dollars,  have  all  occurred  within  the  last  four  years. 
The  precautions  respecting  varioloid,  recommended 
for  the  future,  will,  it  is  hoped,  prevent  that  disease 
from  again  spreading  as  extensively  through  the 
Hospital  as  it  did  a  few  months  ago. 

This  compilation,  itself  designed  as  a  slight  com- 
memoration of  the  benefactors  of  the  institution, 
finds  its  appropriate  close  in  the  vote  passed  in 
honor  of  Miss  Dix,  and  by  her  so  gracefully  and 
feelingly  acknowledged.  In  all  the  annals  of  phi- 
lanthropy, there  is  not  to  be  found  the  record  of  a 
life  of  more  active  efl"ort,  unwearied  self-denial,  and 


382  THE    DIX    WARD. 

entire  devotedness,  than  hers.  It  is  a  gratifying 
reflection,  that  the  first  building  erected  in  New 
England  as  an  Asylum  will  henceforth  bear  the 
name  of  one  who  has  so  nobly  earned  for  herself 
the  title  of  the  Friend  of  the  Insane. 


383 


CHAPTEE   XI. 


"Visits  of  Trustees  :  their  Great  Regularitt.  — Incidents  and  Anec- 
dotes OF  Life  in  the  Asylum  and  in  the  Hospital.  —  Death  of  a 
Little  Italian  Boy  and  of  a  Female  Attendant. 


A  WEEKLY  visit  of  a  Committee  of  the  Trustees  has 
always  been  made  with  great  regularity  to  both  de- 
partments of  the  institution ;  only  a  dozen  omissions 
having  occurred  in  respect  to  each  of  them  during 
this  long  period  of  years. 

The  following  is  believed  to  be  a  correct  list  of  all 
these  instances :  — 


AT    the    asylum. 

AT   THE   HOSPITAL. 

1, 

April     2, 

1821. 

1. 

Sept.     9, 

1831. 

2. 

Dec.    31, 

1828. 

2. 

April    12, 

1833. 

o 
O. 

March  15, 

1831. 

3. 

Nov.       1, 

55 

4. 

„     22, 

J5 

4. 

Sept.     4, 

1835. 

5. 

June      7, 

»» 

5. 

Sept.     1, 

1836. 

6. 

Feb.       5, 

1833. 

6. 

Aug.    15, 

1837. 

7. 

Nov.    12, 

» 

7. 

22 

55 

8. 

January, 

1834. 

8. 

March  19, 

1840. 

9. 

July     14, 

1835. 

9. 

April  23, 

1841. 

10. 

Sept.      1, 

5> 

10. 

March  13, 

1846. 

11. 

Aug.      3, 

1837. 

11. 

Feb.      3, 

1848. 

12. 

„        10, 

55 

12. 

Jan.     19, 

1849. 

13. 

„        24, 

») 

384  VISITS    OF    TRUSTEES. 

It  may  be  remarked,  that,  during  the  three  or  four 
first  years,  at  the  Asyhim,  two  visits  were  made  every 
week,  and  sometimes  even  more  ;  and  that  one  or 
more  of  the  Trustees  have  always  been  in  the  habit 
of  visiting  at  the  Hospital  on  other  occasions,  when- 
ever inclined  so  to  do.  The  supernumerary  visits  thus 
made  at  each  institution  have  doubtless  been  much 
more  numerous  than  the  total  of  the  above  instances 
of  omission.  Indeed,  it  has  happened,  on  no  less 
than  six  occasions,*  that  the  casual  presence  of  an- 
other Trustee  at  the  Hospital  has  saved  the  credit  of 
the  Visiting  Committee.  On  examination  of  the  fore- 
going list,  it  will  be  seen,  that,  while  only  two  omis- 
sions occurred  prior  to  1831  (say  during  ten  years  for 
the  Hospital,  and  fourteen  for  the  Asylum),  no  less 
than  five  omissions  occurred  during  one  single  month 
of  the  year  1837 ;  and  that,  for  the  last  thirteen 
years,  not  one  omission  of  the  weekly  visit  at  the 
Asylum  has  occurred  ;  a  proof  that  the  present  Board 
of  Trustees  have  at  least  discharged  this  part  of  their 
duties  with  great  fidelity. 

No  Trustee  of  the  Hospital  can  fail  duly  to  appre- 
ciate the  two  choicest  of  life's  blessings,  a  sound  mind 
and  a  sound  body.  To  more  than  one  of  those  who 
have  held  that  office,  the  sight  of  physical  suffering 


*  March  2:^,  1844 ;   March   28,  1846 ;   Feb.  3  and  March  31,  1849 ;  March 
23,  1850  (durmg  a  severe  snow-storm) ;  and  in  A^jril,  1851. 


INMATES    OF    M'LEAN    ASYLUM.  385 

and  of  mental  alienation  has  rendered  it  so  distaste- 
ful and  painful  as  to  lead  to  its  speedy  resignation ; 
while  others,  in  view  of  so  much  done  to  alleviate 
and  remove  those  evils,  find  a  visit  to  each  of  our 
institutions  always  agreeable,  —  sometimes  even  de- 
lightful. 

At  the  M'Lean  Asylum,  for  instance,  one  may  see 
in  summer  five  or  six  of  our  patients,  with  their 
scythes,  mowing  in  as  dexterous  and  orderly  a  manner 
as  those  employed  in  any  farmer's  field.  We  mingle 
without  apprehension  among  five  or  six  more,  who, 
with  axes,  beetles,  and  wedges,  are  engaged  in  split- 
ting wood.  The  billiard-table  has  its  party  of  scien- 
tific and  expert  players.  Many  a  spare  ball  is  gained 
in  the  ninepin-alley.  Lovers  of  whist  are  seen  strictly 
observant  of  the  rules  of  Hoyle ;  while  others  are 
entirely  absorbed  in  the  game  of  draughts,  or  in  the 
deeper  mysteries  of  chess.  A  circle  of  ladies  are  per- 
haps seated  around  their  centre-table,  with  its  vase  of 
flowers,  engaged  in  their  favorite  occupations  of  read- 
ing or  needlework.  Manly  strength  and  female  grace 
and  beauty  have  alike,  from  time  to  time,  made  a  tem- 
porary sojourn  among  us.  Intellect  of  a  very  high 
order  has  here  been  restored  to  a  healthy  tone.  The 
brilliant  and  varied  plumage  of  the  humming-bird  has 
been  traced  by  one  of  our  inmates  with  a  life-like 
truthfulness  and  delicacy  not  surpassed  by  the  pencil 

49 


386  INMATES    OF    M'LEAN    ASYLUM. 

of  Audubon.  Flowers  in  wax  have  been  executed  by 
another  wdth  such  a  minute  and  exact  imitation  of 
nature  as  almost  to  deceive  the  senses,  and  lead  the 
beholder  to  expect  the  perfume  of  the  lily,  the  pink, 
or  the  rose.  "  The  last  interview  of  Charles  I.  and 
his  children,"  in  worsteds,  the  handiwork  and  the 
gift  of  one  of  our  patients,  hangs  beside  the  picture 
of  John  M'Lean.  The  exquisite  voice  of  the  singer, 
and  the  skilful  touch  of  the  musician,  have  been  heard 
within  our  halls.  Poetry  has  here  had  its  votaries.* 
There  is  much  of  serenity  and  cheerftdness  among  the 
convalescent ;  and,  amid  the  occasional  displays  of 
melancholy  and  despair,  or  the  vacant  look  of  idiocy, 
which  it  is  distressing  to  witness,  the  visitor's  atten- 
tion is  agreeably  attracted  to  an  infinite  variety  of 
amusing  and  interesting  eccentricities,  which  are 
either   voluntarily  displayed    or    easily  drawn   forth. 

*  In  tie  "  Christian  Examiner  "  for  January,  1855,  were  published  some 
lines  by  the  Rev.  N.  L.  Frothingham,  D.D.,  on  the  M'Lean  Asylum.  One 
of  these  verses  thus  speaks  of  the  institution  :  — 

"  0  House  of  Sorrows  !  sorer  shocks 
Than  can  our  frame  or  lot  befall, 
Are  hid  behind  thy  jealous  locks  ;  — 
Man's  Thought  an  infant,  and  his  Will  a  thrall." 

In  the  "  Boston  Transcript "  of  Jan.  6  appeared  a  beautiful  reply  "  by 
one  of  its  inhabitants,"  in  five  stanzas,  the  first  being  as  follows  :  — 

"  Oh !  call  me  not  a  house  of  woe  and  sorrow, 
For  human  souls  a  final,  fatal  tomb  ! 
Slowly  perchance  may  dawn  the  blessed  morrow, 

That  wakes  the  drooping  flowers  to  brighter  bloom." 

The  closing  stanza  begins  :  — 

"  Oh  !  House  of  Miracles,  7iot  house  of  Sorrow." 


ANECDOTES.  887 

Sallies  of  wit  are  uttered  more  keen  and  lively  than 
are  heard  under  the  restraining  influences  of  social 
life.  Epithets  are  bestowed  which,  though  sometimes 
discourteous,  are  often  signally  appropriate.  A  pre- 
ternatural degree  of  shrewdness  and  cunning  is  some- 
times manifested.  We  notice  everywhere  an  almost 
entire  personal  freedom,  and  a  pervading  air  of  com- 
fort and  enjoyment,  which  make  it  difficult  for  one  to 
imagine  that  he  is  in  a  mad-house. 

The  last  quarter  of  a  century  has  done  much,  very 
much,  for  the  insane.  It  seems  to  me,  that  between 
the  restraints  which  were  at  first  thought  indispensa- 
ble, and  the  present  improved  system  of  management, 
there  is  almost  as  wide  a  difference  as  our  first  patient 
must  have  felt  when  he  found  himself  suddenly  trans- 
ferred from  the  cruel  "  flagellations  "  of  home  to  the 
cautious  and  considerate,  but  kindly,  care  and  treat- 
ment of  Dr.  AVyman. 

A  few  anecdotes  may  serve  to  illustrate  my  own 
experience  as  a  visitor  at  this  department  of  our 
institution.  A  Trustee  once  asked  a  patient  if  she 
did  not  remember  him,  and  said,  "  Does  not  my  face 
look  natural  ]  "  She  replied,  "  Your  face,  sir,  looks 
as  natural  as  a  natural  fooVs."  —  "  Don't  tell  me  about 
your  not  having  time  to  hear  my  story.  If  you 
haven't,  you  ought  to  have.  It  is  the  very  thing 
you  were   sent    here  for,"  —  was   the   equally  unan- 


388  ANECDOTES    OF 

swerable  rejoinder  of  another  patient  to  a  Trustee 
who  had  attempted  to  escape  from  the  repetition  of 
his  already  twice-told  tale.  We  once  had  a  "  glass  " 
patient,  who  was  afraid  of  being  broken,  and  took 
curious  precautions  on  account  of  his  imaginary  brit- 
tleness.  Another  thinks  the  air  full  of  spirits,  which 
get  in  at  his  ears,  and,  after  making  a  great  disturb- 
ance in  his  brain,  come  out  at  the  roots  of  his  hair. 
He  kept  his  ears  closed  with  his  hand  so  long,  that 
they  remained,  for  a  considerable  period,  bent  forward, 
having  lost  their  natural  elasticity.  Some  personal 
comments  on  his  Excellency  once  disturbed  the  equa- 
nimity of  the  Honorable  the  Board  of  Visitors,  at  an 
annual  visitation.  —  One  of  our  oldest  patients  never 
utters  two  sentences  together,  no  matter  on  what  sub- 
ject, without  introducing  at  its  close  an  ejaculation  of 
great  emphasis,  followed  by  the  words  "  Look  out." 
His  speech  is  slow  and  distinct,  but  generally  wholly 
incoherent.  The  right  words  do  not  come  at  his  bid- 
ding. The  following  is  a  specimen  :  "  I  have  a  com- 
mission as  justice  of  the  peace,  and  an  asparagus-bed. 
I  like  lightning  best  at  a  distance.  Whoever  puts  his 
name  on  paper  in  the  Wiscasset  Bank  has  a  mark  on 
his  forehead,  and  is  worse  off  than  if  he  was  dining 
with  one  of  the  selectmen :  —  Look  out."  * 

*  A  patient  escaped,  and   succeeded  in  getting  to  San  Francisco,  from 
which  place  he  sent  to  one  of  the  Trustees  a  bill  charging  the  institution 


INMATES    OF    THE    M'LEAN    ASYLUM.  389 

A  young  man  who  had  been  in  a  government-office 
in  Canada  came  among  us.  For  years  and  years  he 
read  a  Latin  dictionary,  making  critical  comments  in 
the  margin  of  its  leaves,  and  putting  paper-marks 
in  the  book,  almost  as  numerous  as  its  pages.  At  last, 
back  and  covers  became  detached.  Each  leaf  was 
separate.  The  whole,  however,  was  always  placed 
in  an  orderly  pile.  I  asked  him  if  he  should  not  like 
a  new  dictionary.  He  said,  "  Yes."  I  told  him  I 
would  procure  one.  He  insisted  on  paying  for  it.  I 
gravely  accepted  his  draft  on  his  former  employer, 
whose  service  he  had  left  some  dozen  years  before. 
At  my  next  visit,  I  brought  a  copy  of  Leverett's  Lexi- 
con. He  was  highly  pleased,  but  hesitated  about 
using  it  till  he  was  sure  that  his  draft  was  accepted 
and  paid.  I  told  him,  however,  that  this  was  a  need- 
less hesitation,  as  that  would  undoubtedly  be  "  all 
right."  He  has  read  and  re-read  this  volume,  like  its 
predecessor.  Like  that,  it  has  its  three  or  four  hun- 
dred marks  in  it ;  but  it  has  been  preserved  with  most 
scrupulous  nicety,  though  somewhat  embellished  by 

"  for  four  months'  wrongful  detention,  $50,000,  and  for  a  pair  of  pantaloons 
destroyed,  $10,  —  total,  $50,010,"  —  and  asking  an  immediate  remittance 
of  the  amount  by  the  bankers.  Wells  &  Co.  The  same  patient  subse- 
quently sent  to  the  physician  of  the  Asylum  a  large  halter  by  mail,  though, 
fortunately,  it  was  transmitted  from  a  less  distant  locality. 

A  patient  who  had  been  once  remanded  on  a  hearing  before  Chief  Justice 
Shaw,  was,  on  a  second  hearing,  discharged.  He  sued  the  institution  "  for 
1,450  days'  wrongful  detention,  $525,000,"  and  directed  an  attachment  for 
$650,000,  estimating  the  probable  costs  of  Court  at  $125,000. 


390  ANECDOTES    OF 

marginal  annotations.  He  will  always  reply  in  Latin 
to  any  question  asked  him,  though  his  language  is 
not  Ciceronian.  Thus,  to  a  question  as  to  his  health, 
he  said,  "  Mens  salus,  Domine,  est  tolerahilis." 

Another  of  our  patients,  an  inveterate  walker, 
actually  trod  down  the  grass  into  a  pathway  of  the 
shape  of  a  pair  of  mammoth  suspenders  ;  the  button- 
holes at  the  ends  being  elaborated  with  great  skill 
and  care. 

An  inmate  once  said  to  Dr.  Wyman,  "  I  have  you 
in  my  power.  If  you  kill  me,  you'll  be  hung.  But 
I  can  kill  you  with  safety ;  for  I  am  crazy,  and  there- 
fore not  responsible."  —  One  patient  fancied  himself 
to  be  General  Jackson,  and  received  us  with  appro- 
priate dignity  and  courtesy.  He  had  also  the  whim 
of  pronouncing  all  his  vowels  ;  thus,  of  course,  often 
dividing  words  of  one  syllable  into  two.  On  being 
asked  how  he  did,  he  replied,  "  I  hav-e  a-ches  from 
the  top  of  my  he-ad  to  the  ends  of  my  to-es  " 

A  Russian  sailor,  whose  name  alike  defied  chirog- 
raphy  and  pronunciation,  was  styled  on  the  books 
John  Williams.  Accustomed  to  a  life  of  toil  and 
active  exertion,  ennui  and  listlessness  seemed  to 
oppress  his  spirits.  Pie  was  a  perfect  Hercules,  and 
yet  naturally  gentle  and  amiable.  When  addressed 
by  his  fictitious  name,  however,  his  fury  was  at  once 
aroused.     He  imagined  that  he  was  detained  by  mis- 


INMATES    OF    THE    M'LEAN    ASYLUM.  391 

take,  instead  of  the  veritable  John  Williams.  I  once 
inadvertently  addressed  him  by  that  name.  He  in- 
stantly struck  his  fists  together  with  tremendous 
force,  and  sprang  to  the  door-way,  effectually  barring 
my  egress  from  the  room.  My  courage  immediately 
sank  to  zero.  A  summary  close  of  my  official  duties 
seemed  to  be  at  hand.  But,  fortunately,  the  Physi- 
cian, with  one  glance  of  his  eye  and  a  few  quiet 
words,  readily  soothed  him.  We  were  generally  on 
quite  a  friendly  footing.  He  had  much  skill  and 
ingenuity,  especially  in  plaiting  straw.  He  once 
worked  for  me  a  little  gift.  It  was  a  sad  embodiment 
of  his  prevailing  idea  of  a  wrongful  detention,  —  a 
small  straw  chain,  with  fetters  at  each  end. 

Another  patient  thought  himself  so  large  that  he 
could  not  get  out  of  the  doors,  and  invariably  kicked 
and  struggled  and  bruised  himself  at  each  attempt  of 
the  attendants  to  get  him  through.  The  bruises  thus 
received  he  always  exhibited  as  a  complete  demon- 
stration of  his  theory.  —  One  inmate  was  overwhelmed 
by  the  dreadful  delusion  that  he  was  a  convict  under 
sentence  of  death,  awaiting  execution.  He  was  so 
much  distressed,  that  Dr.  Wyman  thought  a  full 
and  free  pardon  from  the  executive  might  be  a  pre- 
scription worth  administering.  A  document  of  that 
purport,  with  a  large  seal  attached,  was  accordingly 
prepared,  and  delivered  to  him.    It  at  first  worked  to 


392  ANECDOTES    OF 

a  charm.  But  in  a  few  days  he  became,  if  possible, 
more  desponding  than  ever.  "  For,"  said  he,  "  I  have 
repeated  the  same  offence,  and  nobody  ever  heard  of 
a  person  being  twice  pardoned.  I  shall  now  certainly 
be  hung." 

An  educated  patient  asked  a  Trustee  to  listen  to 
some  oratorical  rehearsals.  He  immediately  com- 
menced his  recitation.  The  assistant  approached  to 
listen.  When  the  speaker  came  to  the  phrase,  "  and 
smote  him  thus,"  he  suited  the  action  to  the  words, 
and  served  the  unsuspecting  attendant  exactly  like 
his  prototype  of  old,  "  the  circumcised  dog."  I  have 
had  my  book  *  and  pencil  snatched  from  my  hand  by 
one  of  our  inmates,  who,  before  it  could  be  recovered, 
broke  the  one,  and  tore  the  other  to  pieces.  A  patient, 
who,  after  the  lapse  of  thirty  years,  is  still  with  us, 
once  aimed  a  blow,  with  a  carpenter's  hammer  which 
he  happened  to  pick  up,  at  the  head  of  Dr.  Wyman, 
who  was  standing  with  his  back  towards  him,  and 
a  step  or  two  below  him.  It  crashed  through  the 
crown  of  his  hat,  and  wounded  his  forehead,  so  that 
the  blood  flowed  copiously.  This  patient,  though 
generally  harmless,  I  have  heard  express,  with  truly 
diabolical  earnestness,  the  wish  that  he  could  have 
cut    off  the    Superintendent's    head,  before    he    had 

*  By  which  the  Visiting  Committee  check  the  name  of  each  patient  when 
seen. 


INMATES    OF    THE    M'LEAN    ASYLUM.  393 

drawn  the  first  breath  of  Ufe.  A  few  years  ago, 
a  large  jack-knife  was  found  snugly  concealed  about 
his  person,  which  he  had  probably  also  abstracted 
from  a  carpenter  who  had  receMly  been  at  work. 

A  female,  who  had  only  been  with  us  one  day, 
broke  a  window,  and,  taking  a  triangular  piece  of  the 
glass,  concealed  it  in  her  hand,  and  came  out  and 
joined  the  Trustees  and  Dr.  Bell.  She  watched  her 
chance,  and  struck  at  the  doctor's  eye,  but  fortunately 
only  slightly  cut  his  cheek,  just  beneath  it.  —  A 
patient,  mad  with  delirium  tremens,  was  brought  to 
the  institution.  He  was  placed  for  a  moment  or  two 
in  a  room  where  there  was  a  bed  ripped  open,  and 
in  a  process  of  being  filled.  He  thrust  into  this  bed 
a  large  horse-pistol,  loaded  with  ball  and  primed. 
He  was  then  forthwith  removed  to  another  apartment, 
nothing  dangerous  being  found  about  him.  The  bed 
was  finally  filled  up,  and  did  service  for  a  year  or  so ; 
when  one  day  this  truly  mysterious  inmate  was  dis- 
covered. In  view  of  these  and  similar  incidents,  a 
visitor  cannot  but  feel  a  profound  sentiment  of  won- 
der and  admiration,  alike  at  the  entire  fearlessness 
and  self-possession  of  the  officers,  and  at  the  quiet 
harmlessness  of  those  who  might,  as  it  would  seem, 
destroy  life  in  an  instant. 

We  turn  now  to  the  Hospital  for  the  sick.  Its 
advantages  have  been  enjoyed  by  all,  —  the  highest 

50 


•394  ANECDOTES    OF 

and  the  humblest.  Every  class  in  the  community, 
alluded  to  in  the  circular  letter  of  1810  as  likely  to 
need  its  aid,  has  received  it.  Every  profession  and 
occupation  in  life  has,  from  time  to  time,  here  had 
its  representative.  It  is  seldom  that  there  are  not  in 
this  institution  several  interesting  patients,  particu- 
larly among  the  children  and  females.  I  have  often 
known  six  or  eight  little  girls  made  for  the  moment 
forgetful  of  all  their  ailments,  and  perfectly  happy, 
by  a  few  cheap  toys,  or  playthings,  which  altogether 
cost  but  the  merest  trifle.*  Many  a  lesson  of  patient 
endurance  may  be  learned  at  our  visits.  Many  a 
bright  vision  recurs  to  my  imagination,  of  sufl'erers 
"vvho,  by  their  truly  Christian  resignation  and  forti- 
tude, through  long,  tedious  months,  warmly  enlisted 
the  sympathy  and  regard  of  all  who  saw  them.  By 
a  general  rule,  incurable  free-patients  are,  after  a 
trial  of  three  months,  discharged  to  make  room  for 
cases  of  acute  disease  or  recent  accident.  One  free 
patient  I  recollect,  a  young  girl  who  had  been  with 
us  a  year,  hopelessly  ill,  and  whom  the  Visiting  Com- 
mittee reluctantly  discharged  on  this  ground.  She 
had  no  home,  and  was  much  distressed  at  the  thought 

*  A  little  boy  of  five  years  old,  who  had  been  gratified  by  an  occasional 
picture-book,  asked  his  nurse  whij  she  did  not  let  Mr.  Bowditch  come  every  day  ? 
And  a  young  girl,  who  was  a  great  sufferer  from  a  disease  of  the  heart,  once 
stopped  me  as  I  was  passing  her  bedside,  and,  with  much  concern,  informed 
me  that  she  had  broken  her  ylass  dog. 


PATIENTS    AT    THE    HOSPITAL.  395 

of  her  desolate  situation.  One  of  our  number  told 
her  that  she  might  remain,  as  long  as  she  pleased, 
a  jt9a?/-patient,  at  his  expense.  She  gladly  availed 
herself  of  this  offer,  and  died  among  us  more  than 
a  year  afterwards  ;  having  been  uniformly  cheerful, 
and  always  grateful  beyond  expression  for  the  benefits 
which  the  institution  had  conferred  upon  her. 

A  young  girl  with  an  incurable  disease  (an  internal 
tumor)  remained  with  us  five  years  and  nine  months  ; 
and  when,  in  January,  1855,  the  Trustees  felt  that 
they  could  no  longer  make  her  case  an  exception  to 
the  general  rule,  they  individually  subscribed  $100  a 
year,  for  five  years,  to  defray  her  board  in  the  house 
of  a  relative.  She  felt  deep  regret  at  leaving  what 
had  become  to  her  a  home,  where  her  periodical 
sufferings  were  skilfully  alleviated  ;  and  where,  in  her 
intervals  of  ease,  she  enjoyed  as  much  as  an  invalid 
like  her  could  do  anywhere,  devoting  herself  to 
reading  and  needlework,  and  receiving  constant  proofs 
of  sympathy  and  regard.*  >. 

A  young  and  delicate  woman,  a  mother,  the  wife 
of  a  mechanic  in  this  city,  seeing  her  child,  of  a  few 
years  old,  in  danger  of  being  run  over  by  a  heavily 
loaded  truck,  threw  herself  on  the  ground  before  the 


[*  It  will  be  observed  from  the  date  in  this  paragraph  that  it  is  one  of 
the  marginal  additions  made  by  Mr.  Bowditch  in  his  private  copy  of  his 
History.] 


396  ANECDOTES    OF 

approaching  wheel,  and  succeeded  in  snatching  her 
infant  from  certain  death ;  but  had  her  own  arm 
terribly  crushed  in  this  heroic  act,  performed  under 
the  divine  impulse  of  maternal  affection.  Her  case 
excited  universal  interest.  Every  thing  was  done  to 
relieve  her  anxiety  about  her  little  ones  at  home,  as 
well  as  to  alleviate  her  own  sufferings.  She  was  at 
last  discharged  without  any  danger  of  permanent 
injury  resulting  from  her  accident.  May  filial  grati- 
tude and  obedience  in  coming  years  be  her  fitting, 
her  all-sufficient  reward !  The  spirit  of  self-sacrifice, 
thus  shown  in  a  humble  station,  would  have  adorned 
the  highest.  Our  institution  may  well  rejoice  that 
it  had  the  opportunity  of  giving  aid  and  relief  to  so 
deserving  an  inmate.  In  1851,  several  years  after 
our  heroine's  discharge,  a  young  daughter  of  hers 
was  run  over  and  was  brought  to  the  Hospital,  with  a 
broken  limb  which  was  successfully  treated.  She 
had  much  of  her  mother's  beauty.  All  of  us 
who  remembered  her,  became  attached  to  her  pretty 
child. 

One  face  of  surpassing  loveliness  comes  back  to 
my  remembrance.  A  patient  young  in  years,  but 
who  had  borne  a  large  share  of  the  ills  of  life,  was 
received  among  us.  She  had  buried  husband  and 
child,  and  was  herself  soon  to  follow  them,  a  victim 
to  consumption.     With  features  whose  regularity  and 


PATIENTS    AT    THE    HOSPITAL.  397 

beauty  I  have  seldom  seen  equalled,  and  a  brunette- 
complexion  through  whose  delicate  tinge  the  hectic 
flush  of  disease  was  painfully  visible,  hers  was  always 
an  expression  of  mingled  vivacity  and  sweetness. 
No  visitor  could  behold  without  emotion  a  being  so 
bright  and  so  graceful,  standing  all  unconsciously 
on  the  very  verge  of  the  grave.  She  was  poor ;  yet 
she  did  not  remain  many  weeks  in  the  Hospital. 
In  a  large  ward  there  is  unavoidably  much  to  annoy 
and  disturb  an  invalid.  She  longed  for  the  loving 
presence  of  her  who  had  cared  for  her  childhood, 
for  the  quiet  of  her  own  home,  "  be  it  never  so 
homely."  And  so  she  left  us.  But  till  her  death 
she  was  attended,  without  charge,  by  a  physician  of 
the  institution ;  and  the  delicacies  of  the  passing 
summer  were  daily  procured  for  the  gratification 
of  one  who  was  never  to  taste  the  fruits  of  another 
season.     She  was  to  the  last  a  great  sufferer. 

"  Beating  heart  and  burning  brow,  ye  are  very  patient  now  ! " 

One  of  the  most  distressing  cases  ever  received 
within  our  walls  was  that  of  a  lad  from  the  Farm 
School.  He  had  playfully  attempted  to  swing,  by 
means  of  an  iron  hook  suspended  from  the  ceiling, 
over  a  large  open  vessel  of  boiling  water  set  in 
brick-work.  His  hands  were  burned  by  the  hook ;. 
he    involuntarily  let  go  his  hold,  and  fell  into    the 


398  ANECDOTES    OF 

water  beneath ;  and  the  whole  lower  part  of  his  body 
was  frightfully  scalded.  His  mother,  one  of  the  most 
experienced  of  nurses,  was  constantly  with  him  in  an 
apartment  where  he  was  separated  from  all  the  other 
patients.  He  lingered  for  some  time,  amid  much 
pain  and  restlessness,  till  he  was  finally  released. 
How  vividly  does  that  scene  come  again  before  me, 
—  that  remote  room ;  that  unfortunate  boy,  thus 
dying,  as  it  were,  by  inches ;  and  that  devoted 
parent,  who,  through  the  wearisome  days  and  the 
long  nights,  still  hoped  against  hope,  to  be  so  griev- 
ously disappointed  at  last !  As  I  look  back  through 
the  long  period  of  my  connection  with  the  Hospital, 
I  can  recall  nothing  more  harrowing  at  the  time, 
or  more  sad  in  the  remembrance.  And  yet  there 
is  a  melancholy  satisfaction  in  the  thought,  that  I 
have  seen  even  that  poor  boy's  eyes  lighted  up  by 
a  momentary  gleam  of  pleasure  at  some  slight  act 
done  to  afford   him   consolation   or   relief. 

A  sweet  little  girl  of  seven  years  old,  picking  up 
chips  in  a  basket  in  the  Maine  Railroad  enclosure, 
was  run  over  by  a  train  of  cars,  and  had  her  foot  cut 
off.  It  was  after  the  ether-discovery.  While  the  sur- 
geons were  amputating  her  limb,  visions  of  beauty 
and  splendor  seemed  to  pass  before  her  mind's  eye. 
She  exclaimed,  "  What  superb  dresses  !  what  elegant 
ear-rings ! "     As  soon  as  she  became  well  enough,  I 


PATIENTS    AT    THE    HOSPITAL.  399 

ascertained  the  time  of  a  directors'  meeting  of  the 
Maine  Raih'oad,  and  took  the  child  there  to  argue 
her  own  cause.  In  this  instance  at  least,  the  maxim 
proved  false,  that  "  Corporations  have  no  souls." 
They  gave  her  case  a  merciful  consideration,  grant- 
ing three  hundred  dollars  to  be  held  in  trust  for  her 
sole,  personal  use,  at  the  discretion  of  the  Superin- 
tendent and  myself.  Through  the  kindness  of  the 
Matron  (Mrs.  Girdler),  it  was  also  arranged  that  she 
should  be  allowed  to  live  at  the  Hospital,  to  attend 
school  in  its  vicinity,  and  finally  become  a  seamstress 
in  the  establishment.  A  future  of  usefulness  and 
happiness  seemed  secured  for  her.  Her  parents, 
however,  were  Irish.  They  over-persuaded  her  to 
return  to  them ;  at  the  same  time,  indeed,  informing 
her  that  within  twenty-four  hours  she  would  be  hun- 
gry, cold,  and  dirty.  That  she  left  her  adopted  home 
was  a  source  of  deep  regret  to  her  protectors ;  but 
the  trust  specially  assumed  in  her  behalf  will  still 
be  sacredly  fulfilled. 

In  the  spring  of  1854,  a  beautiful  orphan  girl,  of 
eleven  years  of  age,  was  found  by  a  benevolent  lady, 
evidently  in  the  last  stages  of  consumption,  in  a  cellar 
in  Boston,  where  she  had  passed  the  long  months 
of  a  most  severe  winter,  suffering  from  insufficient 
food  and  clothing.  She  was  admitted  into  the  Hos- 
pital, where,  during  the  remaining  fortnight  of  her 


400  ANECDOTES    OF 

life,  some  slight  atonement  was  made  for  the  previous 
social  neglect  to  which  she  had  been  so  fatally  ex- 
posed. That  thin,  pale  face  ;  those  soft  blue  eyes ; 
that  voice  never  heard  above  a  whisper  ;  and  that  sad 
smile,  —  had  about  them  a  strange  fascination.  They 
have  lived  in  my  memory,  and  the  joyous  scenes  of 
happy  childhood  have  to  me  more  than  once  been 
darkened  by  the  painful  vision. 

One  case  is  remembered  which  is  probably  unique 
in  the  history  of  the  Hospital.  An  entire  family, 
natives  of  Boston,  husband  and  wife  and  three  very 
pleasing  young  daughters,  were  admitted  into  the 
institution.  The  father  died  there.  The  others  all 
recovered  from  the  fever  by  which  they  had  been 
simultaneously  attacked  and  prostrated.  The  con- 
valescent daughters  visiting  their  mother,  still  very 
ill,  in  a  distant  ward,  and  she  in  her  turn  carried 
down  to  the  ward  beneath  her  own  to  see  and  con- 
verse for  a  few  moments  with  a  dying  husband,  were 
circumstances  alike  novel  and  interesting. 

Two  cousins*  from  Maine,  —  bright,  blooming  girls, 
—  domestics  in  the  same  family  in  this  city,  and  dear  to 
each  other  as  sisters,  were  admitted  as  fever-patients, 
and  placed  in  adjoining  beds.  One,  becoming  quite 
seriously  ill,  was  removed  to  a  different  ward,  lest 
the  other  should  suffer  from  anxiety  on  her  account. 

*  At  the  Hospital,  they  were  supposed  to  have  been  sisters. 


PATIENTS    AT    THE    HOSPITAL.  401 

The  latter  became  convalescent.  The  attending  phy- 
sician, on  making  his  visit,  expressed  his  pleasure  at 
seeing  her  so  much  better,  and,  alluding  to  her  diet, 
said,  "  Now,  what  is  there  to-day  that  you  would  most 
wish  to  have?"  She  looked  up  at  him  with  great 
earnestness,  and  replied,  "  What  I  most  wish  is,  that 
I  could  see  my  mother."  A  day  or  two  afterwards,  in 
answer  to  her  earnest  inquiries  respecting  her  friend 
and  relative,  she  was  inconsiderately  informed  of  her 
death.  The  shock  of  this  intelligence  overwhelmed 
her.  A  fatal  relapse  shortly  afterwards  ensued ;  not, 
however,  —  it  is  to  be  hoped,  —  the  result  of  this 
indiscretion. 

A  young  and  beautiful  girl  from  Salem,  that  city  of 
fair  faces,  was  admitted,  suffering  intense  pain  in  the 
ball  of  her  foot.  A  local  disease  of  the  bone  was 
finally  developed ;  and  amputation  was  resorted  to. 
Her  firmness  and  uncomplaining  gentleness  were 
beyond  all  praise.  She  possessed  a  native  refine- 
ment that  rendered  her  highly  attractive.  The  dis- 
ease re-appeared  on  her  return  home ;  and  she  died 
there,  some  months  afterwards,  exhausted  by  pro- 
tracted suff"erings.  A  message  of  grateful  remem- 
brance was  sent  by  the  dying  one  to  her  friends  in 
our  institution ;  who,  on  their  part,  will  assuredly 
never  forget  her  lovely  person,  her  interesting  man- 
ners, or  her  sad  fate. 

51 


402  ANECDOTES    OF    PATIENTS. 

A  young  girl,  the  daughter  of  a  German  clergyman 
of  this  city,  and  a  teacher  in  his  Sunday-school,  died 
among  us,  after  a  severe  illness  of  but  a  few  days. 
She  was  an  edifying  example  of  that  equanimity  and 
resignation  with  which  the  young  and  the  happy  are 
sometimes  enabled  to  meet  their  approaching  end. 
The  funeral  services  were  performed  at  the  Hospi- 
tal. There  was  quite  a  numerous  attendance  of  her 
friends  and  fellow-worshippers.  None  could  fail  to 
be  solemnly  impressed  by  the  touching  and  plaintive 
melody  of  their  united  voices,  as  they  poured  forth 
a  hymn  of  sorrow  and  of  triumph  in  their  native 
tongue. 

A  young  man  of  limited  means,  but  of  studious 
habits,  who  had  hoped  to  obtain  an  education,  and 
eventually  to  devote  himself  to  the  ministry,  was,  by 
the  tornado  at  Medford,  in  August,  1851,  crushed  be- 
neath his  father's  house,  so  that  it  was  half  an  hour 
or  more  before  he  could  be  extricated.  He  was 
brought  to  the  Hospital,  where  it  was  found  neces- 
sary to  amputate  both  his  limbs,  —  one  above,  the  » 
other  below,  the  knee.  As  I  witnessed  there  his  uni- 
form patience  and  calmness,  his  unfaltering  trust  and 
confidence,  I  felt  that  he  was  already  a  most  elo- 
quent preacher  of  God's  word,  consecrated  to  his  high 
office  by  this  dreadful  calamity. 

But  a  visit  to  the  Hospital  has  also  a  cheerful  side. 


USE    OF    ETHER.  403 

How  delightful  is  it  to  see  the  pale  cheek  gradually 
regaining  its  color,  and  the  feeble  frame  its  strength ; 
to  witness  the  exhilaration  of  spirit  resulting  from 
returning  health,  the  instantaneous  relief  from  agony, 
the  rescue  from  the  very  grasp  of  death !  And  joy- 
ful indeed  to  all  beholders  are  the  daily  miracles  of 
ether,  that  "  sweet,  oblivious  antidote  "  to  pain. 

But  a  few  years  ago,  and  on  one  occasion  of  almost 
every  week  at  the  Hospital,  deep  groans  of  distress 
or  sharp  cries  of  agony  penetrated  into  the  innermost 
recesses  of  the  building,  and  were  often  distinctly 
audible  through  the  neighborhood.  Now,  the  per- 
formance of  the  severest  and  gravest  duties  of  the 
surgeon  awakens  only  the  faint  murmur  of  a  dreamy 
unconsciousness. 

I  will  mention  but  one  instance,  perhaps  as  striking 
as  the  lapse  of  coming  years  can  ever  produce.  A 
young  lady  was  admitted  with  a  tumor  extending 
from  the  upper  to  the  under  surface  of  the  tongue, 
which  it  had  become  necessary  to  extirpate.  Dr. 
Hayward  administered  ether.  A  steel  hook  was  then 
inserted  into  the  tongue,  to  prevent  its  being  with- 
drawn by  any  involuntary  muscular  movement.  Next 
the  tumor  was  cut  out.  To  stop  the  effusion  of  blood, 
a  red-hot  iron  was  then  passed  three  successive  times 
into  the  cavity,  which  was  finally  filled  with  a  piece 
of  sponge.      The   patient  was   then   asked  how  she 


404  WEDDING    OF    A    PATIENT. 

felt ;  and  her  reply  was,  "  Very  comfortable."  She 
had  known  nothing  of  all  that  had  been  done.  What 
would  otherwise  have  been  torture  indescribable  had 
been  by  her  unfelt.  In  a  few  days,  she  was  well 
enough  to  leave  us. 

One  young  girl,  of  about  seventeen,  was  long  con- 
fined by  a  tedious  and  discouraging  complaint.  She 
was  a  universal  favorite,  and  was  at  last  discharged, 
well.  A  year  or  two  afterwards,  I  saw  her  standing 
at  the  altar,  in  a  church  brilliantly  lighted,  a  bride  in 
all  the  bloom  of  youth  and  of  renovated  health  and 
beauty.  A  former  House  Physician  was  there  with 
me.  Her  recollections  of  the  Hospital  were  so  agreea- 
ble that  she  wished  to  have  it  represented  on  this,  the 
most  joyous  occasion  of  her  life.  She  was  certainly 
one  of  the  most  interesting  of  all  the  "  graduates  "  of 
our  institution. 

A  young  Hungarian  lady  had  shared  her  husband's 
fatigues  and  privations,  and,  after  a  temporary  sojourn 
in  the  dominions  of  the  Sultan,  had  been  obliged  to 
seek  here  a  new  home.  Her  health  having  become 
impaired,  she  was  for  several  months  the  occupant  of 
one  of  our  private  rooms.  Of  a  noble  and  command- 
ing stature,  remarkable  alike  for  dignity  and  grace, 
her  beauty  and  her  misfortunes  gathered  around  her 
friends  from  among  the  young  and  the  fair  of  our 
city,  who  were  unwearied  in  the  kindest  and  most 


A    PROVIDENTIAL   PATIENT.  405 

delicate  attentions.  Thus  it  was  determined  that,  as 
far  as  possible,  this  interesting  invalid  should  have  a 
merry  Christmas.  And  a  Christmas  tree  was  pre- 
pared according  to  the  customs  of  her  native  land, 
and  with  its  tapers  lighted  was  borne  into  her  room, 
with  various  gifts  for  use  or  ornament,  of  the  value 
of  several  hundred  dollars.  This  incident,  as  may 
readily  be  believed,  afforded  her  great  delight,  as  it 
did  likewise  to  such  of  the  other  female  patients  as 
were  well  enough  to  be  present  on  the  occasion. 

Several  years  since,  I  passed  my  summer-months  in 
the  country,  being  dependent  on  an  omnibus  for  my 
daily  ride  into  the  city.  I  was  the  first  passenger 
called  for.  On  one  occasion,  we  stopped  at  a  neigh- 
boring house.  A  young  Irish  girl  was  assisted  by  two 
of  her  countrymen  into  the  vehicle.  She  was  suffer- 
ing from  acute  rheumatism.  I  asked  her  where  she 
was  going.  She  said,  "  To  the  Hospital."  To  my 
several  questions,  whether  she  had  seen  the  Physician, 
or  got  any  permit,  and  whether  she  had  any  means  of 
paying  her  board,  she  replied  in  the  negative.  "  How, 
then,"  said  I,  "  do  you  expect  to  get  into  the  Hos- 
pital ] "  She  answered,  "  I  trust  in  Providence."  Now, 
by  a  singular  coincidence,  it  happened  that  no  one 
in  the  whole  county  except  myself  had  power  to  give 
her  the  desired  admission.  I  at  once  determined  to 
do  so,  and  thus  to  justify  the  trust  which  she  had  so 


406  DEATH    OF    AN    ITALIAN    BOY. 

confidently  expressed.  When,  therefore,  I  left  the 
vehicle,  I  told  the  driver  to  take  her  directly  to  the 
Hospital,  giving  him  a  note  to  the  Admitting  Physi- 
cian, which  secured  her  reception  on  a  free  bed.  She 
was  cured  in  a  few  weeks,  and  was  always  known  as 
the  "  Providential  Patient." 

Such,  and  so  varied,  is  he  experience  of  a  Trustee 
in  the  discharge  of  his  official  duties.  I  will  close 
this  review  by  the  mention  of  three  incidents,  the  first 
two  of  which  occurred  in  1846,  and  were  brought  pe- 
culiarly within  my  notice  as  a  member  of  the  Visit- 
ing Committee.  Of  one  of  them  I  inserted  the  fol- 
lowing account  in  a  newspaper  of  the  day:  —  ''Died, 
at  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital,  July  25, 
after  a  painful  illness  of  ten  months,  Angelo  Lathwer, 
aged  fifteen  years.  He  was  a  small,  interesting 
Italian  lad,  who  had  exhibited  a  white  mouse  in 
London,  and  afterwards  in  this  city.  Separated  from 
home  and  kindred,  his  patience  and  gentleness  won 
the  regard  of  strangers.  The  sympathy  of  the  officers 
and  of  the  inmates  of  the  institution  showed  itself  in 
various  little  attentions  and  acts  of  kindness.  One 
of  the  Trustees  gave  him  a  number  of  a  recent  Eng- 
lish publication,  which  contained  a  representation  of 
himself  exhibiting  a  white  mouse.  He  contemplated 
it  with  as  much  gratified  ambition  as  Napoleon  would 
have  felt  on  viewing  an  engraving  of  the  battle  of 


DEATH    OF    A    FEMALE    ATTENDANT.  407 

Austerlitz.  The  day  before  he  died,  a  beautiful, 
young  white  mouse  was  found  in  the  garden  of  the 
Hospital,  and  brought  to  Angelo.  He  was  delighted. 
The  bitterness  of  death  was  for  the  moment  forgotten. 
The  night  which  followed  was  solemn  and  melancholy 
to  all  his  fellow-sufferers,  as  they  listened  to  his  touch- 
ing ejaculations :  '  I  cannot  die  !  I  am  afraid  to  die ! 
I  want  my  mother  ! '  But  the  weary  one  was  soon  to 
be  at  rest ;  — 

'  For  when  the  morn  came,  dim  and  sad, 

And  cliill  with  early  showers, 
His  quiet  eyelids  closed :   he  had 
Another  morn  than  ours.'  " 

One  of  the  attendants  at  the  Hospital,  a  young  girl 
with  a  sunny  face,  a  kind  heart,  and  agreeable  man- 
ners, the  very  picture  of  health  and  beauty,  was,  in 
the  spring  of  the  same  year,  attacked  by  a  cough, 
which,  in  a  few  weeks,  was  ascertained  to  be  attended 
with  disease  of  the  lungs.  She  did  not  wish  to  go  to 
her  distant  home.  She  declined  the  opportunity  of 
breathing  the  purer  air  of  a  neighboring  country-town. 
She  preferred  to  die  among  those  who,  for  the  several 
last  years,  had  been  her  companions,  and  amid  the 
scenes  of  her  recent  labors.  The  Trustees,  at  the 
close  of  the  quarter,  directed  that  she  should  be  paid 
in  full ;  though,  for  the  last  half  of  the  time,  she  had 
been  wholly  unable  to  perform  her  duties.  I  wit- 
nessed her  gratitude  at  this  expression  of  interest  on 


408  DEATH    OF    A    FEMALE    ATTENDANT. 

the  part  of  the  Board.  On  the  morning  of  the  fourth 
of  July,  I  left  a  gay  and  happy  scene, — the  Floral 
Festival  at  the  Warren-street  Chapel,  —  and  walked 
to  the  Hospital  to  see  her.  She  had  just  died.* 
The  companions  who,  throughout  her  illness,  had 
watched  over  her  with  the  utmost  tenderness  and 
assiduity,  had  now  completed  their  sad  offices.  She 
was  clad  in  the  white  robes  of  death.  Grapes,  which 
were  to  be  tasted  by  other  lips  than  hers,  lay  upon 
the  table.  On  her  shrouded  breast  were  flowers,  to 
whose  fragrance  she  was  insensible.  All  traces  of 
sufl"ering  and  illness  had  passed  away  from  her  coun- 
tenance, which  had  resumed  its  habitual  serenity. 
The  struggles  of  worn  and  exhausted  nature  were  at 
last  over.     She  rested  — 

" as  sweetly  as  a  child, 


Whom  neither  thought  disturbs  nor  care  encumbers, 
Tired  with  long  play,  at  close  of  summer-day 
Lies  down,  and  slumbers." 

We  gathered  around  her  bedside  in  silence.  The 
scene  formed  a  truly  striking  contrast  with  that 
which  I  had  just  left.  But  it  was  not  a  painful 
one.  "  For,"  thought  I,  "  what  more  could  have 
been  done  for  that  poor  girl,  even  by  the  hands  of 

*  The  close  of  her  brief  and  blameless  career  was  thus  chronicled  in  the 
records  of  the  Visiting  Committee :  — "  Emeline  Wright  died  of  consump- 
tion on  the  4th  instant,  aged  twenty-four,  after  an  illness  of  about  three 
months.  She  had  been  for  several  years  an  attentive  and  faithful  nurse  in 
the  institution." 


A    REPENTANT    DEATH-BED.  409 

sisters  beneath  the  domestic  roof  ^  Surely,  on  this 
occasion,  at  least,  the  Hospital  has  well  performed 
its  mission  of  kindness  and  love." 

In  1851,  there  died  a  young  woman,  twenty-one 
years  of  age,  who  a  few  months  before  had  been 
brought  to  the  Hospital,  burnt  by  the  breaking  of 
a  camphene  lamp,  in  an  assault  committed  upon  her 
in  a  house  of  ill  repute  where  she  was  an  inmate. 
On  her  bed  of  pain,  she  had  leisure  to  reflect  on 
her  former  life.  The  retrospect  filled  her  with 
horror.  The  severest  physical  sufferings  were  as 
nothing  to  the  agonies  of  an  awakened  conscience. 
The  past  had  become  hateful ;  the  present  was  full 
of  anguish  and  distress ;  and  the  future  held  out  no 
promise.  Young  as  she  was,  life  and  all  its  op- 
portunities had  passed  irrevocably  away.  She  died 
in  the  Hospital ;  and  yet  the  last  moments  of  that 
poor,  degraded  Magdalen  were  soothed  and  cheered 
by  words  and  acts  of  encouragement  and  compassion, 
such  as  the  world  seldom  accords  to  its  fallen  chil- 
dren. To  her  contrite  spirit  may  they  have  proved 
a  foretaste  of  that  Father's  mercy  which  she  so  deeply 
needed  and  so  earnestly  sought  ! 

"  Were  not  the  sinful  Mary's  tears 
An  offering  worthy  Heaven, 
When  o'er  the  faults  of  former  years 
She  wept,  and  was  forgiven  1 " 
52 


410 


CHAPTER     XII. 

The  Members  of  the  Corporation.  —  List  of  Trustf.es.  —  Remarks 
AND  Anecdotes. —  List  of  Officers.  —  List  of  Subscriptions. —  Sum- 
mart  OF  the  same  to  1843.  —  Enlargement  of  Hospital  in  1844. — 
Free-bed  Subscription  List.  —  Legacies,  Donations,  and  Devises. 
—  Receipts  from  Life  Office,  &c.  —  Grand  Summary  of  all  these 
Donations.  —  Tables  of  Admissions  and  Discharges  at  the  Asylum 
AND  AT  the  Hospital.  —  Concluding  Remarks. 

The   Act  of   Incorporation  names   as   members   the 
following  fifty-six  gentlemen  :  — 


Adams,  John 
Adams,  John  Q. 
Amory,  Jonathan 
Amory,  Thomas  C 
Bowdoin,  Jame.s 
Bridge,  Matthew 
Brown,  Samuel 
Bussey,  Benjamin 
Cabot,  George 
Childs,  Timothy 
Coohdge,  Joseph 
Craigie,  Andrew 
Crowninshield,  Benj.  W. 
Cutts,  Thomas 
Dana,  Samuel 
Davis,  Jonathan 
Dawes,  Thomas 
Dearborn,  Henry 
Derby,  Elias  Hasket 
Eustis,  William 


Fowler,  Samuel 
Gerry,  Klbridge 
Gore,  Christopher 
Gray,  William 
Greene,  Benjamin 
Hallowell,  Robert 
Harris,  Jonathan 
Hazard,  Thomas,  jun. 
Heath,  William 
Plill,  Aaron 
Jones,  John  Coffin 
Kilham,  Daniel 
King,  William 
Kirkland,  John  Thornton 
Kittredge,  Thomas 
Lincoln,  Levi 
Lowell,  Jolni 
Mann,  James 
IMelville,  Thomas 
Morton,  Perez 


MEMBERS    OF    THE    CORPORATION. 


411 


Otis,  Harrison  Gray 
Parker,  Isaac 
Parsons,  Theophilus 
Payne,  William 
Perkins,  James 
Perkins,  Thomas  II. 
Phillips,  William 
Prince,  James 


Spring,  Marshall 
Story,  Joseph 
Sullivan,  Richard 
Thorndike,  Israel 
Tilden,  David 
Varnum,  Joseph  B. 
Warren,  John 
Welles,  Arnold. 


The  right  to  elect  members  has  been  but  very 
rarely  exercised.  Six  of  the  gentlemen  constituting 
the  first  Board  of  Trustees  were  chosen  members,  to 
make  them  eligible  to  that  office  (1813):  — 


Barnard,  Tristram 
Bradford,  Gamaliel 
Lee,  George  G. 


May,  Joseph 
Sargent,  Daniel 
Sullivan,  John  L. 


In  June,  1825.  were  chosen  — 


through  whom   the  donation   of  a  mummy 
had  been  made ; 


Edes,  Robert  B.  .  .  . 
Tilden,  Bryant  P.  .  . 
Van  Lennep,  Jacob, 

Swett,  Samuel, to  render  him  eligible  as  a  Trustee ;  and 

Wurman,  Rufus,  Dr.,  Superintendent  of  the  M'Lean  Asylum,  who 

was    already  a    member   by  a    donation    of  over  a   hundred 

dollars. 

In  June,  1827,  tAvo  members  were  elected, — 

Bowditch,    Nathaniel,    who    was    Actuary    of    the    Massachusetts 

Hospital  Life  Insurance  Company ; 
Codman,  Henry,  to  render  him  eligible  as  a  Trustee. 

It  is  believed  that  not  a  single  member  has  been 
since  elected,  say  for  a  period  of  twenty-five  years. 
All,  however,  who   have  served   as   Trustees   of  the 


412 


LIST    OF    TRUSTEES. 


institution  are,  by  a  subsequent  vote,  made  members  ; 
also  all  donors  to  the  amount  of  a  hundred  dollars 
and  upwards.  Those  who  have  become  members  in 
this  latter  mode  will  be  found  in  the  alphabetical  list 
of  donors.  The  following  is  an  alphabetical  list  of 
the  Trustees  of  the  Institution :  — 


Amory,  Charles 
Andrews,  William  T. 
Appleton,  Samuel 
Appleton,  William 
Armstrong,  Samuel  T. 
Barnard,  Tristram 
Belknap,  John 
Bond,  Georjie 
Bowditch,  N.  I. 
Bradford,  Gamaliel 
Brimmer,  Martin 
Bullard,  W^illiam  S. 
Chadwick,  P^benezer 
Chapman,  Jonathan 
Codmau,  Henry 
Coolidge,  Joseph 
Curtis,  Thomas  B. 
Dale,  William  J. 
Dexter,  George  M. 
Edmands,  J.  Wiley 
Edwards,  Henry 
Eliot,  Samuel  A. 
Francis,  Ebenezer 
Gardiner,  William  H. 
Gray,  F'rancis  C. 
Greene,  Benjamin  D. 
Greene,  Gardiner 


Guild,  Benjamin 
Hallet,  George 
Head,  Joseph 
Higginson,  Stephen,  jun. 
Hooper,  Robert,  jun. 
Jackson,  Patrick  T. 
Lamb,  Thomas 
Lawrence,  Abbott 
Lawrence,  Amos 
Lawrence,  Amos  A. 
Lawrence,  Samuel 
Lee,  George  G. 
Loring,  Charles  G. 
Lowell,  Francis  C. 
Lowell,  Francis  C. 
Lowell,  John 
Lowell,  John  A. 
Lyman,  Theodore,  jun. 
May,  Joseph 
Mills,  Charles  H. 
Oliver,  Francis  J. 
Otis,  William  F. 
Parker,  Daniel  P. 
Perkins,  Thomas  H. 
Phillips,  Jonathan^ 
Prescott,  William  H. 
Quincy,  Josiah 


LIST    OF    TRUSTEES. 


413 


Quincy,  Josiah,  jun. 
Robbins,  Dr.  Edward  H. 
Rogers,  Henry  B. 
Sargent,  Daniel 
Sargent,  Ignatius 
Sears,  David 
Shaw,  J.  Howland 
Shaw,  Robert  G. 
Stevenson,  J.  Thomas 
Stone,  William  W. 
Storrow,  Chas.  S. 


Sturgis,  William 
Sullivan,  John  L. 
Sullivan,  Richard 
Swett,  Samuel 
Thorndike,  John  P. 
Ticknor,  George 
Tilden,  Joseph 
Tuckerman,  Edward 
Ward,  Thomas  W. 
Wigglesworth,  Edward. 


On  this  list  of  Trustees  will  be  found  the  names 
of  two  individuals  who,  as  authors,  have  acquired  a 
European  reputation  in  the  respective  departments 
of  history  and  of  Spanish  literature  ;  one  President, 
three  Treasurers,  and  four  other  Fellows,  of  Harvard 
College ;  one  minister  to  the  Court  of  St.  James ; 
two  members  of  Congress  ;  one  Lieutenant-Governor 
of  Massachusetts,  and  no  less  than  six  mayors  of 
Boston  ;  the  two  fathers  of  American  manufactures, 
—  the  late  noble-spirited  Patrick  T.  Jackson,  and  the 
late  Francis  C.  Lowell,  whose  name  has  been  con- 
ferred upon  our  manufacturing  emporium  ;  and  also 
one  who  in  his  day  was  the  head  of  the  Suffolk 
Bar,  and  afterwards  the  most  scientific  agriculturist 
of  the  Commonwealth.  Associated  with  these  are 
found  many  of  our  wealthiest  and  most  liberal  mer- 
chants, —  Mr.  Sears,  Col.  Perkins,  and  others.  It 
will  not,  I  am  sure,  be  thought  invidious  if  mention 


414         SAMUEL    APPLETON.  A.    &    A.    LAAVRENCE. 

is  made  of  two  of  these  as  our  "  Brothers  Cheeryble," 
—  Samuel  Appleton  and  Amos  Lawrence,*  so  gene- 
rally known  and  so  universally  respected  as  among 
the  most  amiable  and  benevolent  of  our  citizens. 
Both  have  been  the  architects  of  their  own  fortunes. 
Mr.  Appleton  tells  a  humorous  story,  that,  when  a 
young  man,  he  kept  a  school,  during  the  winter- 
months,  in  a  country-town,  where  he  was  put  up  at 
auction,  to  be  boarded  out  in  the  family  that  would 
consent  to  take  him  at  the  lowest  rate.  Mr.  Law- 
rence tells  an  equally  good  story  of  the  small  shop 
first  opened  by  himself  and  his  brother,  and  of  a 
purchase  of  some  trifling  article  once  made  by  a 
sailor,  who  was  so  pleased  with  his  bargain  that  he 
returned  in  a  iew  days  with  several  of  his  messmates, 
and  began  spelling  out  the  sign-boards  in  the  street, 
at  last  exclaiming  with  a  loud  voice,  as  the  modest 
sign  of  which  he  was  in  search  met  his  eye,  "  That's 
it,  A.  and  A.  Lawrence;  that's  the  place;"  an 
instance  of  humble  patronage  which  at  the  time  was 
more  gratifying  than  the  most  brilliant  success  that 
has  ever  crowned  the  enterprise  and  industry  of  a 
firm  now  known  throughout   the   commercial  world. 

*  Mr.  Lawrence  died  Dec.  31,  1852,  in  the  67th  year  of  his  age.  Mr. 
Appleton  died  July  12,  1853,  having  just  entered  on  his  88th  year.  He 
placed  $200,000  at  tlie  disposal  of  his  three  executors,  for  public  uses.  To 
have  been  tlius  selected  as  one  of  the  almoners  of  his  bounty  I  regard  as  the 
most  gratifying  incident  of  my  professional  life.  —  [Man/inul  Note  bij  Mr.  B.] 


SAMUEL    APPLETON.  A.    &   A.    LAWRENCE.         415 

The  former,  in  advanced  age,  and  unable  to  walk 
from  his  house,  continues,  in  the  highest  and  best 
sense,  to  enjoy  life.  He  has,  indeed,  no  children ; 
but  a  numerous  band  of  nephews  and  nieces  look  up 
to  him  with  truly  filial  regard.  Indeed,  the  commu- 
nity itself  ventures  to  apply  to  him  their  familiar  and 
affectionate  appellation  of  "  Uncle  Sam."  This  name, 
in  the  abstract  so  dear  to  every  patriot,  could  not  be 
more  worthily  bestowed.  The  latter,  also  for  some 
years  past  an  invalid,  and  unable  to  attend  at  all  to 
business,  is  yet  at  heart  as  young  as  ever,  finding 
leisure  and  strength  for  innumerable  good  works  and 
kind  offices.  He,  too,  has  thus  won  from  the  public 
a  corresponding  title  of  respect  and  regard.  Every- 
body loves  "  Uncle  Amos,"  and  he  loves  everybody. 
He  is  particularly  fond  of  the  young.  For  a  con- 
siderable time,  and  at  a  cost,  doubtless,  of  several 
thousand  dollars,  he  defrayed  the  entire  expenses  of 
a  private  Hospital  for  children,  under  the  charge  of 
his  son.  Dr.  W.  R.  Lawrence.  On  a  bright  winter's 
day,  he  was  passing  a  primary  school  just  as  recess 
began.  One  of  the  little  girls  cried  out,  "  How  I 
should  like  a  sleigh-ride  I "  He  at  once  filled  his 
vehicle  with  as  many  of  them  as  could  get  into  it. 
In  my  visits  at  the  Asylum,  I  occasionally  find  that, 
as  an  amateur,  he  has  preceded  me.     Mr.  Lawrence 


416         SAMUEL    APPLETON. A,    &   A.    LAWRENCE. 

is  the  elder  brother  of  Hon.  Abbott  Lawrence,  who, 
high  as  is  his  present  official  station,  has  gained  a  yet 
prouder  distinction  as  founder  of  the  scientific  school 
of  Harvard  College. 

[The  Lists  of  Oilicers,  of  Subscribers,  &c.,  which  follow,  are 
reprinted  as  prepared  by  Mr.  Bowditch,  —  terminating  with  the 
date  of  the  publication  of  his  History.  The  additions  to  them 
appear  in  their  proper  place,  as  a  part  of  tluj  Continuation.] 


41 


OFFICERS   OF   THE   HOSPITAL 

FROM    ITS    FOUNDATION. 


PRESIDENTS. 

William  riiillips  ....  from   1814  .  .  through  182G  .  .  13  years. 

Thomas  II.  Perkins  .  .  from  182(5  ,  .  through  1827  .  .  2  „ 

John  Lowell from  1828  .  .  to   Jan.  1830  .  .  2  „ 

Gardiner  Greene .  from  June,  1830  .  .  through   1832  .  .  Sh  „ 

Joseph  Head from  1833  .  .  through  1835  .  .    3  „ 

Ebenezer  Francis 1836 1  „ 

Edward  Tuckermau  .  .  from  1837  .  .  through  1843  .  .  7  „ 

William   Appleton  .  .  .  from  1844  .  .  through   1851   .  .  8  „ 

VICE-PRESIDENTS. 

Samuel  Pnrkman  .  .  elected  1814 and  declined  serving. 

James  Perkins 1815  .  died  Aug.  1822   .  .  .  7.i  yrs. 

Thomas  II.  Perkins  .  .  from  1823  .  .  to  June,  1826  ..  .  31  „ 
John  LowqU  .  .  .  from  June,  1826  .  .  to  June,  1829  ...  3  „ 
Gardiner  Greene  from  „  1829  .  .  to  June,  1830  ...  1  „ 
Joseph  Head  .  .  from  „  1830  .  .  through  1832  ...  2^  „ 
Ebenezer  Francis   .  .  .  from  1833  .  .  through    1835  ...  3       „ 

Samuel  Appleton 1836 1       ,, 

Jonathan  Phillips    .  .  .  from   1837  .  .  through    1845  ...  9       „ 

Theodore  Lyman 1846  .  .  died  in     1849  ...  4       „ 

Robert  Hooper from   1850  .  .  through    1851  ...  2       „ 

TREASURERS. 

James  Prince 1813  .  died  Feb.   1821  .  .  .  8J  yrs. 

William  Cochran  .  Feb.  28,  1821  .  died  in  6  months  .  .  h  „ 
N.  P.  Russell.  .  .  .Sept.  14,  1821  .  .  through  1834  .  .  13|  „ 
Henry  Andrews  ....    from   1835   .  .  through   1851    .  .    17       „ 

03 


418  OFFICERS    OF    HOSPITAL. 


SECRETARIES. 

Richard  Sullivan     .  .  .  from  1811   .  .  through  1816    .  .    6  years. 

Henry  Codman from  1817  .  .  through   182G   .  .  10  „ 

N.  I.  Bowditch from  1827  .  .  to  June,  1836  .  .    9^  „ 

William  Gray    ,  .  from  June,  1836  .  .  tlu-ough   1841   .  .    51  „ 

Marcus  Morton,  jun.  .  .  from  1842  .  .  through   1851   .  .  10  ,, 

TRUSTEES. 

Thomas  H.  Perkins  .  .  from  1813  .  .  through   1818  .  .     6  years. 

Josiah  Quincy from   1813  .  .  through   1820  ..    8  „ 

Daniel  Sargent from  1813  .  .  through   1821   .  .    9  „ 

Joseph  INI  ay from  1813  .to  Nov.  5,  1826, 

nearly 14  „ 

Stephen  Higginson,  jun.  from  1813  .  .  through   1815   .  .     3  ,, 

Gamaliel  Bradford  .  .  .  from   1813  .  .  through  1823  .  .  11  „ 

Tristram  Barnard   .  .  .  from   1813  .  .  through   1818  .  .     6  „ 

George  G.  Lee from  1813  .  .  through  1816  .  .     4  „ 

Francis  C.  Lowell  .  .  .  from  1813  .  .  through  1815  .  .     3  „ 

Joseph  Tiklen from  1813  .  .  through   1815  .  .    3  „ 

John  L.  Sullivan  ....  from   1813  .  .  through  1816  .  .     4  „ 

Richard  Sullivan  ....  from  1813  .  .  through  1822  .  •.  10  „ 

Jonathan  Phillips.  .  .  .  from   1816   .  .  to  July,  1832  .  .  161  „ 

John  Lowell from  1816  .  .  through  1819  .  .    4  „ 

Joseph  Coolidge    ....  from  1816  .  .  through  1831   ..  16  „ 

David  Sears from   1817  .  .  through   181S   .  .    3  „ 

Eben  Francis,  part  of  1817  ; 
chosen  by  Corporation,  1818 

(resigned  for  part  of  1820) through  1831  say  14  „ 

Peter  C.  Brooks.  .  .  elected  1819 but  declined  serving. 

Joseph  Head,  elected  by  Trus- 
tees in  1819  ;  by  Corporation,  1820         to  June,  1829  .  .  .  8i  yrs. 
Thomas  W.  Ward,  elected  by 
Trustees  in  1819  ;  by  Corpo- 
ration, 1820 through  1823  ...  4  „ 


OFFICERS    OF    HOSPITAL. 


419 


Samuel  Appleton,  elected  by 
Trustees  in  October,  1819  ; 
by  Corporation,  1820  .  .  .  , 

John  Belknap from 

Daniel  P.  Parker    .  .  .  from 
Tlieodore  Lyman,  jun.  .  from 
Benjamin  Guild    ....  from 
William  H.  Prescott  .  .  from 
Gardiner  Greene     .  .  .  fiom 
Samuel  Swett  .  .  from  May, 
Edward  Tuckerman  .  .  from 
George  Ticknor  .  from  July, 
Edward  H.  Robbins  from     „ 
William  Sturgis  .  from     „ 
Amos  LawM-euce  from  Dec.  5, 
P.  T.  Jackson    .  .  from  July, 
Henry  Codman     .  from     ,, 
Wm.  H.  Gardiner  from     „ 
Francis  C.  Gray  .  from     „ 
Josiab  Quincy,  jun.  from     ,, 
Benj.  D.  Greene  from  Aug.  26, 
James  Bowdoin,  elected  Aug. 
Heman  Lincoln,  elected  .  Jan. 
George  Bond,  elected  .  Feb. 
George  Hallet,  elected  .  July, 
Tiiomas  W.  Ward,  re-elected 
Abbott  Lawrence  from  July, 


Francis  J.  Oliver  .  . 

.  from 

Samuel  A.  Eliot   .  . 

.  from 

Charles  G.  Loring  . 

.  from 

Rufus  AVvman   .  .  . 

Thomas  B.  Curtis  . 

.  from 

Charles  Amory  .  .   . 

.  from 

Henry  Edwards    .  . 

.  from 

Samuel  Lawrence   . 

.  from 

Robert  G.  Shaw  .  . 

.  from 

to  Dec.  1822  .  .     3  years. 

1820  .  .  through  1822  ..     3      „ 

1821  .  toJuly2G,  1825  .  .     4^    „ 

1822  .  to  July  26, 1825  .  .     3^    „ 

1823  .  .  to  Jan.  1834  .  .  11  „ 
1823  .to  July  26,  1825  .  .  2  J-  „ 
1823  .  .  to  July,   1830  .  .     7i    „ 

1823  .  .  to  July,  1826  .  .     3^    „ 

1824  .  .  through  1836  .  .  13  „ 
1826  .  .  to  July,  1830  .  .  4  „ 
1826  .  .  througli  1834  .  .  9|  „ 
1826  .  .  to  July,  1827  .  .     1      „ 

1826  .  to  Feb.  26,  1831  .  .     5i    „ 

1827  .  .  to  July,  1828  .  .  1  „ 
1827  .  .  .to  Jan. 1835  .  .  7i  „ 
1828 1-  „ 

1829  .  toOct.  30,  1836  .  .  7i  „ 

1830  .  .  through  1836  .  .  6^  „ 

1830  .  .  to  Oct.  8, 1833  .  .  3   „ 

1830 declined  serving. 

1831 declined  serving. 

1831  .  died  May  23,  1842  111  yrs. 

1831  .  .  through    1833  .  .     2^    „ 
1832 and  declined  serving. 

1832  .  .  through    1835  .  .     3i  yrs. 

1833  .  .  through    1835  .  .     3       „ 

1834  .  .  through    1838  .  .     5       „ 

1834  .  .  through    1837  .  .     4 

1835  .    elected  and  declined  serving. 

1835  .  .  through  1838  .  .     4  years. 

1836  .  .  through  1847  .  .  12  „ 
1836  .  .  through  1845  .  .  10  „ 
1836  .  .  through  1838  .  .  3  „ 
1836  .  .  through  1838  ..     3      „ 


420 


OFFICERS    OF    HOSPITAL. 


John  P.  Thorndikg 
Martin  Brimmer  . 
Robert  Hooper,  jun 
N.  I.  Bo wd itch  .  . 
AVilliam  Appleton 
Thomas  Lamb  .  . 
George  M.  Dexter 
Francis  C.  Lowell 
Henry  B.  Rogers 


Ebenezer  Chadwick 
Ignatius  Sargent  .  . 
William  T.  Andrews 
Jonathan  Chapman 
William  F.  Otis   .  . 
John  A.  Lowell    .  . 
Charles  S.  Storrow 
Edward  AVigglesworth 
William  W.  Stone  . 
J.  Wiley  Edmands  . 
J.  Thomas  Stevenson 
Charles  H.  Mills  . 
Amos  A.  Lawrence 
William  S.  Bullard 
G.  Howland  Shaw 
William  J.  Dale  . 


from 
from 
from 
from 
from 
from 
from 
from 
from 

from 

from 


from 
from 
from 


from 
from 
from 
from 
from 
from 


1836  . 

.  through 

1837  .  . 

2  years 

1837  . 

.  through 

1842  .  . 

6 

J? 

1837  . 

.   through 

1849  .  . 

13 

5? 

1837  . 

.  through 

1851  .  . 

15 

i5 

1838  . 

•  through 

1841  .  . 

4 

59 

1838  . 

.  through 

1851  . 

14 

,, 

1839  . 

.  through 

1851   .  . 

13 

11 

1839  . 

.  through 

1851  . 

13 

55 

1839  . 

.   (omittin, 

y  1840) 

through 

1851  . 

12 

11 

1840  . 

.  through 

1842  . 

3 

„ 

1841  . 

.     1 

1842  . 

.  through 

1847  . 

.     6 

11 

1843  . 

.     1 
1 

1843  . 

1843  . 

.  through 

1850  . 

.     8 

,, 

1844  . 

.  through 

1845  . 

.     2 

55 

1844  . 

.  through 

1851    . 

.     8 

55 

1846  . 

.     1 

1847  . 

.  through 

1848   . 

2 

55 

1846  . 

.  through 

1851   . 

.     6 

55 

1848  . 

.  through 

1851    . 

.     4 

55 

1848  . 

.   through 

1851   . 

.     4 

55 

1849  . 

.  through 

1851  . 

3 

55 

1850  . 

.  through 

1851   . 

2 

,, 

1851  . 

.     1 

CHAIRMEN  OF  THE  TRUSTEES. 


Thomas  H.  Perkins 1818 

Joseph  May 1819 

Joseph  Head Dec.  5,  1826 

Ebenezer  Francis  .  .  .  July,  1829 
Edward  Tuckerman  .  .  July,  1831 
George  Bond  .  .  .  from  Feb.  1835 
Robert  Hooper,  jun.  June  19,  1842 
N.  I.  Bowditch 1850 


.  .  to  Nov. 

1826  .  . 

.  .  to  July, 

1829   .  . 

.  .  to  Jidy, 

1831  .  . 

.  .  to  Feb. 

1835  .  . 

.  .  to  IMay, 

1842  .  . 

.  .  to    Jan. 

1850  .  . 

.  .  through 

1851  .  . 

1  year. 

8  „ 

n  55 

2  „ 
3^  „ 

7^  55 

7i  5, 


OFFICERS    OF    HOSPITAL.  421 


SUPERINTENDENTS   OF   HOSPITAL. 

Capt.  Nathl.  Fletcher,  ApvW  21, 1821  .  died  May  1,  1825  .  4  years. 

Nathan  Gurney  .  .  .  June  12,  1825  ...   to  Nov.  1833  .  8     „ 

Gamaliel  Bradford    .Oct.   11,  1833  .  died  Oct.  23,  1839  .  6     „ 

Charles  Surnner  .  .  .  Dec.  17,  1839  .  to  Mar.  21,  1841  .  2^  „ 

John  M.  Goodwin  .  March  21,  1841  .  .  to  Nov.  2,  1845  .  4^   „ 

Richard  Girdler .  .  .  Nov.  16,  1845 to  1852  .  6     „ 

PHYSICIANS    OF   ASYLUM.  ' 

Dr.  George  Parkraan  condi- 
tionally elected   Oct.   4,   1816 never  served. 

Dr.  Rufus  Wyman,  March  23,  1818  .  .to  May  31,  1835  .  17  years. 

Dr.   Thomas    G.   Lee,   chosen 

Jan.  16,  1835  .  .    died  Oct.  1836  .    2     „ 

Dr.  Luther  V.  Bell  .  Dec.  11,  1836 to  1852  .  15     „ 


STEWARDS,   &c.,  OF  ASYLUM. 

John  M.  Goodwin .  .  Nov.  23,  1823  .  .  to  June  4,  1826  .     21  yrs. 

G.  W.  Folsom died  in  Oct.  1827  .     1     „ 

Henry  Pierce    ....     Oct.  9,  1827  .  office  aholished, 

Nov.  11,  1828  .     1     „ 
Oliver  V.  Bond  (as  supervisor), 

Nov.  23,  1828  .  .   to  Oct.  5,  1830  .    2     „ 

Columbus  Tyler   (as   supervi- 

sor)  Oct.  8,  1830 

Luke  Bigelow,  chosen  Oct.  3,  1832  .  to  March  9,  1834    > 

„      May  18,  1834  .  to  Nov.  23,  1836    i         " 

William  Wyman  .  .  .  Dec.  2,  1834 2    mos. 

Columbus  Tyler    .  .     Jan.  16,  1835 ,  .  to  1852  .  16  years. 


422 


OFFICERS    OF    HOSPITAL. 


ATTENDING  PHYSICIANS  AND  SURGEONS  AT  HOSPITAL. 


Dr.  Jiimes  Jackson  .  .  April  6,  1817 
„    John  C.  \Yarren  .      „     6,  1817 
„    Walter  Channing  .  Oct.  4,  1821 
„    John  B.  Brown  .  Nov.  23,  1823 
,,     George   Ilayvvai-d,  March 
19,    1826    (first    chosen 
assistant  -  surgeon  ;   then 
,     junior,   Feb.    21,    1830; 
then    chief,    Jan.    1838)  .  .  . 
"  „  Edward  Reynolds,  Aug.  3,  1828 
.,  George  W.  Otis    .       „     3,  1828 

„  John  "Ware,  assistant,  Sept. 
27,  1829;  and  resigned 
July    8,     1836;    chosen 

Feb.  10,  1839 

Jacob  Bigelow  .  July  8,  1836 
„  Enoch  Hale  .  .  .  Oct.  13,  1837 
„     Solomon     D.    Townseud, 

February,  1839 

„  J.  B.  S.  Jackson  .  Jan.  22, 1840 
„  H.  I.  Bowditch  .  „  28,  1846 
„  John  D.  Fisher  .  „  28,  1846 
„  O.  W.  Holmes  .  .  „  28,  1846 
„  H.  J.  Bigelow  .  .  „  28,  1846  . 
„  Samuel  Parkman  „  28,  1846 
„  J.  Mason  Warren  „  28,  1846 
„  D.  H.  Storer  ....  Jan.  1849 
„  G.  C.  Shattuck,  jun.  „  1850 
„  M.  S.  Perry  .  .  .  March,  1850 
„     Henry  G.  Clark..         „        1851 


.to  Oct.  13,  1837  .  20i  yrs. 

to  1852  .  34 

...  to  Jan.  1839  .  17^      „ 
to  Feb.  26,  1826  .    2}      „ 


.  .  to  April,  1851  .  25  years. 
.  to  Ai)ril  7,  1829  .    8     mos. 
to  new  organiza- 
tion in  P'el).  1830  .     l|year. 


and  served  1  year  .     8 

to  1852  .  15 

.  .   died  Nov.  1848  .  11 

to  1852  .  18 

to  1852  .  12 

to  1852  .    G 

.  died  March,  1850  .    5 
.  .  .to  end  of  1849  .     4 

to  1852  .    6 

to  1852  .    6 

to  1852  .    6 

(in  place  of  Dr.  Hale)  3 
(  „      „     Dr.  Holmes)  2 
(  „      „       Dr.  Fisher)  2 
( „      „          Dr.  Hay- 
ward)  1 


423 

LIST  OF   ORIGINAL   SUBSCRIBERS 

OF    ONE    HUNDRED    DOLLARS    AND    UPWARDS. 


Prepared  by  Joseph  May,  Esq.,  in  1828;-  continued  by  Henry  B.  Rogers,  Esq..  to  July  10,  1843;    those 
marked  (*)  having  been  added  by  Mr.  Rogers. 


Adams,  Benjamin  and  Caleb $100.00 

Allen,  Joseph 100.00 

Amoiy,  Hannah  R 100.00 

Amory,  John 200.00 

Amory,  Jonathan 200.00 

Andrews,  Ebenezer  T 300.00 

Appleton,  Nathan 500.00 

Api)leton,  Samuel 2000.00 

*Appleton,  William,  for  himself 100.00 

Appleton,  William,  for  an  unknown 200.00 

^Armstrong,  Samuel  T 100.00 

Austin,  Nathaniel 100.00 

Babcock,  Adam 300.00 

Baker,  Brown,  and  Co 100.00 

Baldwin,  Aaron 110.00 

Barnard,  Charles 100.00 

Bartlett,  John 100.00 

Bartlett,  Thomas 300.00 

Bean,  Stephen 100.00 

Belknap,  Jeremiah 100.00 

Belknap,  John       .     , 100.00 

Bellows,  John 100.00 

Binney,  Amos 300.00 

Bishop,  John 100.00 

Blake,  George 100.00 

Bond,  George 180.00 

Boott,  Kirk,  and  Sons 300.00 

Boott,  Mary '.     .  300.00 


424  ORIGINAL    SUBSCRIBERS. 

Bradbury,  Charles $100.00 

Bradford,  Gamaliel 100.00 

Bradlee,  Josiali 200.00 

Bradlee,  Thomas  D 100.00 

Bridge,  Nathan 100.00 

Brimmer,  Andrew 1 00.00 

Brooks,  Peter  C 2000.00 

•*Brown,  Moses 100.00 

Brown,  Samuel 100.00 

Bryant,  John 100.00 

Bumstead,  Thomas 125.00 

Bussey,  Benjamin 1000.00 

Cabot,  George 100.00 

Cabot,  John 150.00 

Cabot,  Sarah  and  Susan 100.00 

Cabot,  William 100.00 

Carnes,  Francis 200.00 

Chamberlain,  Richard 100.00 

Channing  Walter 100.00 

Channing,  William  E 100.00 

Chapman,  Henry 100.00 

Chelsea,  town  of 145.42 

Child,  David  W 100.00 

Cobb,  Samuel , 200.Q0 

Cochran,  William 100.00 

Codman,  Charles  R 100.00 

Coffin,  Margaret  (and  Ann  Smitli) 100.00 

Collections  in  Ward  4 340.00 

Collections  in  Ward  10 373.00 

Coolidge,  Joseph 2000.00 

Coolidge,  Joseph,  jun 1000.00 

Cordis,  Thomas 100.00 

Getting,  Uriah 100.00 

Crocker,  Allen    ' 100.00 

*Crowniiishield,  Benjamin  W 200.00 

■  Crowuinshield,  George 500.00 


ORIGINAL    SUBSCRIBERS.  425 

Curtis,  Thomas $100.00 

*Cushing,  John  P 5000.00 

Gushing,  Thomas,  a  share  in  Exchange  Coffee  House, 

worth 300.00 

Ball,  William 100.00 

Dana,  Benjamin 100.00 

*Dane,  Nathan 200.00 

Davis,  Amasa 100.00 

*Davis,  A.  and  C 150.00 

Davis,  Charles 100.00 

Davis,  Daniel 100.00 

Davis,  Eleanor 200.00 

Davis,  Joshua 100.00 

Davis,  Thomas '.     .     .     .  100.00 

Davis,  William •     •     •  150.00 

*Dearborn,  H.  A.  S 150.00 

Degrand,  P.  P.  F 175.00 

Dennie,  Thomas 100.00 

Derby,  John 300.00 

Derby,  Richard ;     .  100.00 

Derby,  Richard  C 300.00 

Devereux,  Humphrey 100.00 

Dexter,  Aaron ' 100.00 

Dexter,  Katharine 100.00 

Dodge,  Pickering 300.00 

Dorr,  John 110.00 

Dorr,  Samuel 100.00 

Eliot,  Catherine 200.00 

Ellery,  John  S 100.00 

Ellis,  David 100.00 

Endicott,  Samuel 100.00 

^Exhibition  of  Mummy 1257.87 

Fales,  Samuel 100.00 

Farley,  P^benezer 125.00 

Female  Association 753.08 

Field,  Joseph 100.00 

54 


426  ORIGINAL    SUBSCRIBERS. 

Fisher,  Joshua $100.00 

Forrester,  Simon 2000.00 

Francis,  Ebenezer 200.00 

French,  John 100.00 

French  and  Weld 120.00 

Gardiner,  Robert  H 200.00 

Gardiner,  Samuel  P 100.00 

Gibson,  Abraham 100.00 

Goddard,  Nathaniel 200.00 

Gore,  John 200.00 

Gray,  Francis  C 100.00 

Gray,  Henry 1000.00 

*Gray,  Horace 1000.00 

Gray,  John  C 100.00 

*Gray,JolmC 1300.00 

Gray,  William 500.00 

Greene,  Gardiner,  $1000  in  three  per  cents 650.00 

Greenough,  David 200.00 

Greenough,  David  S 200.00 

*Hall,  Dudley 200.00 

Hammond,  Samuel 200.00 

Hancock,  John 200.00 

*Harvard  College ' 213.32 

Hay  ward,  Lemuel 100.00 

Head,  Joseph 1000.00 

Head,  Joseph,  jun 100.00 

Heard,  Augustine 100.00 

Hedge,  Barnabas 150.00 

Hinckley,  David 1000.00 

Hingham,  Third  Parish 504.44 

Holland,  John 200.00 

Homer,  Benjamin  P 100.00 

Homes,  Henry 100.00 

Howe,  John 100.00 

Hubbard,  Henry 100.00 

Hubbard,  John 200.00 


ORIGINAL    SUBSCRIBERS.  427 

Humane  Society  of  Massachusetts $5140.56 

Humane  Society  (Merrimack) 2000.00 

Hunnewell,  Jonathan 100.00 

Hurd,  John 100.00 

Ilurd,  Joseph 200.00 

Jackson,  Charles 400.00 

Jackson,  James 420.00 

Jackson,  Patrick  T 220.00 

Jaques,  Samuel,  jun 100.00 

Jones,  John  Coffin 500.00 

Jones,  Thomas  Kilby 200.00 

Joy,  Abigail  and  family 300.00 

Joy,  Benjamin 250.00 

Kidder,  John,  jun 100.00 

Knapp,  Josiah 100.00 

Knowles,  Seth 100.00 

Lambert,  William 100.00 

Lawrence,  Amos  and  Abbott 200.00 

Lawrence,  William 100.00 

Lee,  Francis 100.00 

Lee,  George .  150.00 

Lee,  Joseph 300.00 

Lee,  Tbomas,  jun 100.00 

Lewis,  Winslow 100.00 

Lincoln  and  Wheelwright  . 100.00 

Lloyd,  James 1000.00 

Loring,  Caleb 100.00 

Lowell,  Francis  C 300.00 

*Lowell,  Francis  C 100.00 

Lowell,  John ■   450.00 

Lyman,  George  W 150.00 

Lyman,  Theodore 2000.00 

Lyman,  Theodore,  jun 150.00 

Marshall,  Josiah 100.00 

Massachusetts  Charitable  Fire  Society 900,00 

May,  Perrin 100.00 


428  ORIGINAL    SUBSCRIBERS. 

May,  Samuel Si 00.00 

Miller,  Samuel  R 100.00 

Miuot,  William 100.00 

Morse,  John 100.00 

Motley,  Thomas 100.00 

Munson,  Israel 1000.00 

*Oakes,  Caleb 100.00 

Odin,  John 200.00 

Odiorue,  George 100^00 

Orne,  Joseph 200.00 

Orne,  Samuel 200.00 

Osborn,  John 200.00 

Otis,  H.  G 500.00 

Parker,  Daniel  P 500.00 

Parker,  John 500.00 

Parkman,  Samuel 2000.00 

Parkman,  Samuel,  jun 200.00 

Parsons,  Nehemiah 200.00 

Parsons,  William 1500.00 

Payne,  M 100.00 

Payne,  William 100.00 

Peabody,  Joseph 2000.00 

Perkins,  James 5000.00 

Perkins,  Samuel  G 100.00 

Perkins,  Thomas  H 5000.00 

Perry,  John 100.00 

Phillips,  John 100.00 

Phillips,  Jonathan 100.00 

Phillips,  Stephen 200.00 

Phillips,  Wm.,  including  15000  legacy  of  his  father   .     20,000.00 

Pickering,  Henry 100.00 

Pickman,  Benjamin,  jun 1000.00 

Pickraan,  Dudley  L 150.00 

Pickman,  William 300.00 

Pope,  Paschal  P 100.00 

Pratt,  John 135.00 


ORIGINAL    SUBSCRIBERS. 


429 


Pratt,  William $400.00 

Prescott,  Williiim 150.00 

Prince,  James 250.00 

Prince,  John 200.00 

Quincy,  Josiah 200.00 

Pvand,  Isaac 100.00 

Randall,  John 100.00 

Reed,  John  T 100.00 

Revere,  Paul 100.00 

Revere,  Joseph  W 100.00 

Rice,  Henry  G 100.00 

Rich,  Benjamin 300.00 

Richards,  Jolin 100.00 

Ritchie,  Andrew 500.00 

Robinson,  Nathan 200.00 

Rogers,  Daniel  D 1000.00 

*Ropes,  William 150.00 

Russell,  Nathaniel  P 500.00 

Salisbury,  Samuel 500.00 

Salisbury,  Samuel,  jun 100.00 

Sanford,  Samuel 300.00 

Sargent,  Daniel 200.00 

*Sargent,  Ignatius 400.00 

Sawyer,  William 100.00 

Sears,  David 5000.00 

Sewall,  Joseph 500.00 

Shaw,  Robert  G 500.00 

Shepherd,  Michael 100.00 

Shimmin,  William 100.00 

•    Silsbee,  Nathaniel 100.00 

Skinner,  John 100.00 

Smith,  Barney 400.00 

Snelling,  Samuel 100.00 

^Society,  Washington  Benevolent,  Charle&town  Branch      .  200.00 

*  „        Hollis-street 148.05 

*  „       First  Church 100.C7 


430  ORIGINAL    SUBSCRIBERS. 

*Society,  King's  Chapel $114.44 

*  „        West  Church 190.06 

*  „        Roman  Catholic 100.40 

^       „        First  Parish,  Dorchester 1G8.48 

*  „        Dr.  Bancroft's,  Worcester 140.60 

*  „        Dr.  Pierce's,  Brookline 173.38 

Soley,  John 100.00 

Spear,  Samuel 100.00 

Spelman,  Phineas 100.00 

Spooner,  William 100.00 

Stanton,  Francis 100.00 

Sturgis,  Russell 200.00 

Sturgis,  William 100.00 

Sullivan,  George 200.00 

Sullivan,  Richard 400.00 

Sullivan,  William 200.00 

Tappan,  John 350.00 

Tappan,  Lewis 100.00 

Taylor,  Charles 300.00 

Theatre,  Boston 1190.00 

Thompson,  Ahraham 100,00 

Thorndike,  Israel 2000.00 

Thorndike,  Israel,  jun 100.00 

Tilden,  Joseph 100.00 

Torrey,  Catherine 200.00 

Torrey,  John  G 100.00 

Torrey,  Samuel 100.00 

Touro,  Abraham 300.00 

Trot t,  George 100.00 

Tucker,  Gideon 200.00 

Tucker,  Richard  D 100.00 

Tuckerman,  Edward 100.00 

Tuckerman,  Edward,  jun 500.00 

Tuckerman,  William  and  Gustavus 100.00 

*Town  of  Concord 200.00 

*Town  of  Maiden 193.80 


ORIGINAL    SUBSCRIBERS.  431 

*Tufts,  Cotton $135.00 

Tufts,  Nathan 100.00 

Ui)liam,  Phineas 100.00 

Vosc,  Coates,  and  Co 100.00 

Waldo,  Daniel 200.00 

Wales,  Thomas  B 100.00 

Walker,  Timothy 150.00 

*Walker,  William  J 400.00 

Ward,  Artemas 100.00 

*Ward,  Nahum 100.00 

Ward,  Thomas  W 150.00 

Ward,  William 100.00 

Warren,  John  C 400.00 

Webster,  Redford 153.00 

Welch,  Francis 200.00 

Weld,  Benjamin 500.00 

Welles,  John 300.00 

West,  Nathaniel .     .     .1000.00 

Wetmore,  Eliza 200.00 

Wheeler,  Elisha 100.00 

Wheeler,  Moses 100.00 

White,  James 300.00 

Whitney,  Asa 100.00 

*Wiggin,  Benjamin  (Exhibition  of  Picture) 1604.07 

Wigglesworth,  Thomas 200.00 

Williams,  John  D 1000.00 

Williams,  Moses 100.00 

Williams,  Samuel  G 100.00 

Williams,  Thomas 100.00 

Williams,  Timothy 100.00 

Winchester,  Amasa 100.00 

Winthrop,  Thomas  L 100.00 

Wood,  John 100.00 

Note.  —  Some  of  these  subscriptions  INIr.  Rogers  ascertained  to  be  the  same  which  were 
made  to  free  beds  j  say  in  all,  $3,712. 


432  SUMMARY    AND    ANALYSIS. 

SUMMARY  OF  SUBSCRIPTIONS  TO  JULY,  1843, 

Total  for  Hospital $101,619.21 

Total  for  Asylum 45,373.34 

$146,992.57 

SUBSCRIPTIONS  ANALYZED. 

1  of  $20000  is $20000.00 

4  of  5000  are 20000.00 

8  of  2000 16000.00 

1  of 1604.07 

1  of 1500.00 

12  of  1000 12000.00 

1  of 650.00 

14  of  500 7000.00 

1  of 450.00 

1  of  . 420.00 

7  of  400 2800.00 

1  of 350.00 

21  of  300 6300.00 

2  of  250 500.00 

1  of 220.00 

44  of  200 8800.00 

1  of 180.00 

1  of 175.00 

1  of 153.00 

13  of  150 1950.00 

2  of  135 270.00 

2  of  125 250.00 

1  of 120.00 

2  of  110 220.00 

151  of  100 15100.00 

1  of 94.89 

1  of 60.00 

6  of  75 450.00 


SUBSCRIPTIONS    ANALYZED.  433 

101  of  50 SoO'jO.OO 

1  of 45.00 

1  of 44.50 

10  of  40 400.00 

1  of 37.50 

31  of  30 930.00 

43  of  25 .  1075.00 

114  of  20 2280.00 

1  of 18.00 

25  of  15 375.00 

1  of 13.00 

1  of 12.00 

1  of 11.00 

178  of  10 1780.00 

2  of  7 14.00 

257  of  5 1285.00 

16  of  4 G4.00 

36  of  3 108.00 

1  of 2.50 

42  of  2 84.00 

21ofl 21.00 

3  of  §0.50,  and  1  of  $0.25 1.75 

131269.21 

Ward  Collections $847.50 

Exhibitions,  Concerts,  &c 2782.69 

Five  Benevolent  Societies 8993.64 

Twenty-four  Religious  Societies      ....  2349.97 

Twelve  Towns 749.56 

15723.36 


$146992.57 


434 


SUBSCRIPTIONS   FOR  ENLARGEMENT   OF 
HOSPITAL,    1844. 


Amory,  Charles S500 

Amory,  James  S 250 

Amory,  William 500 

Andrews,  Ebenezer  T 1000 

Appleton,  Nathan 1000 

Appletou,  Samuel 2000 

Appleton,  Samuel  A 100 

Appleton,  William 2000 

Armstrong,  Samuel  T 100 

Austin,  Edward 100 

Aylwin,  Richard 100 

Bacon,  Daniel  C 100 

Bangs,  Benjamin 200 

Barnard,  Charles 500 

Bassett,  Francis 100 

Bates,  John  D 250 

Binney,  Amos 200 

Blake,  Mrs.  Joshua 200 

Blanchard,  Edward 500 

Boardman,  William  II 100 

Bowditch,  J.  IngersoU 100 

Bowditch,  N.  1 500 

Boyden,  Dwight .'     .  100 

Bradlee,  Josiah 1000 

Bradlee,  James  B 200 

Brimmer,  Martin 500 

Brooks,  P.  C 2000 

Brooks,  P.  C.,jun 500 

Bromfield,  John 100 


ENLARGEMENT    OF    HOSPITAL.  435 

Bryant,  John,  jun $250 

Cabot,  Henry 200 

Gary,  Thomas  G 100 

Carney  and  Sleeper 100 

Chace,  Caleb 200 

Chadwick,  Eben 500 

Chandler,  Abiel 100 

Chickering,  Jonas 500 

Codraan,  Charles  R 100 

Codman,  Henry 100 

Colby,  Gardner 100 

Crowninshield,  B.  W 300 

Cunningham,  A.  and  C 100 

Curtis,  Charles  P 100 

Curtis,  Thomas  B 100 

Dalton,  Peter  R 100 

Dana,  Samuel 100 

Dixwell,  John  James 100 

Edmands,  J.  W 200 

Eliot,  Samuel  A 500 

Everett,  Moses 100 

Fales,  Samuel 200 

Fletcher,  Richard 100 

Forbes,  John  M 100 

Francis,  Ebenezer 1000 

Gardner,  George 100 

Gardner,  John  L 1000 

Goodenough,  John 100 

Goddard,  Benjamin 500 

Goodwin,  Ozias 500 

Gray,  Francis  C "  .     .  500 

Gray,  Horace 300 

Gray,  John  C 1000 

Gray,  Samuel  C 100 

Gray,  William 100 

Greene,  Elizabeth  C 500 


436  SUBSCRIPTIONS    FOR 

Greene,  Sarah 81000 

Greenougb,  David  S 100 

Hall,  Henry 100 

Hallet,  George 200 

Hayward,  George 100 

Hooper,  Nathaniel 100 

Hooper,  Robert 250 

Hooper,  Robert  C 100 

Hooper,  Samuel 250 

Howe,  George 500 

Howe,  Jabez  C 200 

lasisi  and  Goddard 100 

Jackson,  P.  T 100 

Johnson,  James 100 

Johnson,  Samuel 100 

Joy,  Abigail 100 

Kendall,  Abel,  jun 100 

Kuhn,  George  H 100 

Lane  and  Reed 100 

LaAvrence,  Abbott 2000 

Lawrence,  Amos 1000 

Lawrence,  Amos  A 100 

Lawrence,  William 1000 

Lawrence  and  Stone 500 

Lee,  George 1000 

Lee,  Thomas 500 

Livermore,  Isaac 100 

Loring,  Elijah 100 

Loriug,  Francis  C 100 

Low,  John  J.  and  Francis 100 

Lowell,  Francis  C 500 

Lowell,  John  A 1000 

Lyman,  Charles 500 

Lyman,  George  W 500 

Lyman,  Theodore 1000 

Marland,  John 100 


ENLARGEMENT    OF    HOSPITAL.  437 

Mason,  Robert  M $100 

Mason,  William  P 500 

Mills,  Charles  H 100 

Milton  and  Slocumb 100 

Nichols,  Benjamin  R 100 

Oliver,  William 100 

Otis,  William  F 100 

Parker,  Daniel  P 500 

Parker,  James 500 

Parker,  John 1000 

Parkman,  George 150 

Parsons,  William 100 

Perkins,  William  P 100 

Peters,  Edward  D 100 

Phipps,  William 100 

Pickman,  C.  Gayton 100 

Pope,  Paschal  P 500 

Pratt,  Mary 500 

Prescott,  William 500 

Prescott,  William  H 100 

Putnam,  Samuel  R 100 

Quiucy,  Josiah,  jun 1000 

Revere,  Joseph  W 100 

Rice  and  Thaxter 100 

Richardson,  Jeffry,  and  Brother 100 

Robbius,  Edward  H 100 

Rogers,  Henry  B 500 

Russell,  James  D 100 

Richardson,  Burrage,  and  Co 100 

Salisbury,  Stephen 500 

Sargent,  Ignatius 1000 

Sargent,  Lucius  M 100 

Savage,  James 100 

Sayles,  Willard 500 

Sears,  David 2000 

Shaw,  R.  G 1000 


438  ENLARGEMENT    OF    HOSPITAL. 

Skinner,  Francis $250 

Stickney,  Josiah 100 

Stoddard,  Charles 100 

Sturgis,  William 1000 

Thayer,  John  E 500 

Thayer,  Nathaniel 100 

Tilden,  Joseph 100 

Timmins,  Henry 500 

Uphani,  Phineas 1000 

Waldo,  Daniel,  and  sister 200 

Wales,  Thomas  B 1000 

Walker,  William  J 200 

Waterston,  Pray,  and  Co 100 

Warren,  John  C 500 

Welles,  John 500 

Wetmore,  Thomas 100 

Whitney,  William  F 100 

AViggles worth,  Edward 100 

Wigglesworth,  Thomas 300 

Williams,  John  D " 2000 

Williams,  Moses 100 

Total $62550 

ANALYSIS  OF  THESE  SUBSCRIPTIONS. 

6  of  $2000  .  .  • $12000 

19  of  1000 19000 

33  of  500 IGoOO 

3  of  300 900 

G  of  250 1500 

14  of  200 2800 

78  of  100 7800 

2  of  75 150 

37  of  50 1850 

2  of  25 50 

$62550 


439 


FREE-BED    SUBSCRIPTIONS. 


Adams,  Horatio,  1848-49 $258.00 

Amory,  Charles,  1845-46 200.00 

Amory,  James  S.,  1845-48 400.00 

Amory,  William,  1844 '.     .     .     .  100.00 

Appleton,  Nathan,  182G  and  1840 200.00 

Appleton,  Samuel,  1850 100.00 

Appleton,  William,  1837-40,  1847-49 800.00 

Belknap,  Jeremiah,  Life-bed,  1827 G54.00 

Boston  and  Lowell  Railroad,  1848-49 150.00 

Boston  and  Maine  Railroad,  1849  ' 100.00 

Boston  and  Providence  Railroad,  1848-49 150.00 

Bowditch,  H.  L,  1847 100.00 

Bowditch,  N.  I.,  1841-51 1000.00 

Bradlee,  Josiah,  1843-50  . 800.00 

Bradlee,  Thomas  D.,  1828 100.00 

Brimmer,  IMartin,  1837-39 300.00 

Brooks,  Peter  C,  1826,  $100  ;  1828,  Life-bed,  $810      .  910.00 

Bryant,  John,  1849 100.00 

Bullard,  William  S.,  1850 100.00 

Bnmstead,  John,  1828 100.00 

Codman,  Henry,  1833-36 400.00 

Coolidge,  Joseph,  1827-31 500.00 

Gushing,  John  P.,  1829-43,  1845-47 2900.00 

Cutler,  Pliny,  1836 100.00 

Cutler,  William  C,  1837-38 200.00 

Dixwell,  John  James,  1841 100.00 

Dwight,  Edmund,  1828-33,  1845-49 1100.00 

Eliot,  Catherine,  1826 100.00 

Eliot,  Samuel  A.,  1826,  1828,  1840,  1845-47   .     .     .     .  600.00 

Tales,  Samuel,  1828 100.00 

Ferriera,  L.  G.,  1839 100.00 


440  FREE-BED    SUBSCRIPTIONS. 

Francis,  Ebenezer,  1826-32 $700.00 

Gray,  Francis  C,  1828-31,  1840-41 600.00 

Gray,  John  C,  1828-32 500.00 

Greene,  Gardiner,  1828-32 500.00 

Greene,  J.  S.  C.,  1843-48 600.00 

Hallet,  George,  Life-bed,  1836 600.00 

Hallet,  Mrs.  George,  Life-bed,  1846 600.00 

Head,  Joseph,  sen.  and  jun..  Executors,  1826     ....  1200.00 

Head,  Joseph,  1827-28 200.00 

Howard  Benevolent  Society,  1828 100.00 

Howe,  George,  1840,  1841 200.00 

Hubbard,  Samuel,  1837 100.00 

Humane  Society,  1825-50 9700.00 

Ives,  R.  H.,  1 847 100.00 

.Jackson,  Charles,  1826-43     .     .* 1800.00 

Jackson,  Patrick  T.,  1822  and  1827-40 1460.00 

Jeffries,  John,  1835  and  1844-47,  1849-50 800.00 

Joy,  Elizabeth,  1847-48 166.67 

Joy,  Hannah,  1833-34,  1836-42 900.00 

Lambert,  William,  1823 400.00 

Lawrence,  Abbott,  1828 100.00 

Lawrence,  Amos,  1826-32  and  1841 800.00 

Lawrence,  AVilliam,  1828 100.00 

Loring,  Abby  M.,  1847-50 400.00 

Lowell,  Francis  C.,  1845-50 500.00 

Lowell,  John  A.,  1843  and  1846-49 500.00 

Lyman,  Theodore,  1839,  1840-42 900.00 

Massachusetts  Charitable  Fire  Society,  1832,  1845-50    .  2325.00 

Munson,  Israel,  1826-28,  1831-38,  1843 1200.00 

Oxnard,  Henry,  1843 100.00 

Parker,  Daniel  P.,  1828 100.00 

Parker,  John,  1826-40 1500.00 

Parker,  J.  B.,  1845-47 237.50 

Parsons,  William,  1826 100.00 

Perkins,  James,  1826 200.00 

Perkins,  Thomas  II.,  1825-33 820.00 


FREE-BED    SUBSCRIPTIONS.  441 

Phillips,  Jonathan,  1828-32,  1843-50 $1200.00 

Phillips,  William,  1826-27 300.00 

Pratt,  Elizabeth,  1849-50 200.00 

Pratt,  Sarah  P.,  1848-50 300.00 

Pratt,  William,  1828,  1840-42 400.00 

Prescott,  William,  1828 100.00 

Raymond,  E.  A.,  1848 100.00 

Redman,  John,  1844-46 300.00 

Reed,  Hannah,  1844-50 700.00 

Robbins,  Edward  H.,  1827-29 270.00 

Rogers,  Henry  B.,  1844-46,  1849-50 500.00 

Salisbury,  Elizabeth,  1833-43,  1846-50 1600.00 

Sears,  David,  1825  and  1840 200.00 

Shattuck,  George  C,  1829 100.00 

Shaw,  Robert  G.,  1828,  1840,  1842-43,  1845-50  .     .     .  1000.00 

Stanton,  Francis,  1835 100.00 

Stone,  William  W.,  1847 100.00 

Sturgis  William,  1827-32,  1840-43,  1845-48   ....  1300.00 

Tappan,  John,  1826 100.00 

Thorndike,  Israel,  1826 100.00 

Ticknor,  George,  1826-30 500.00 

Tuckerman,  Edward,  1828-32 500.00 

Waldo,  Daniel,  1839 100.00 

Waldo,  E.  and  S.,  1827,  1829-50 2300.00 

Wales,  Thomas  B.,  Life-bed,  1828 825.00 

Williams,  John  D.,  1826-48 2300.00 

Williams,  Moses,  1847-50 400.00 

Total  to  1851 $65,069.17 


56 


442 


LEGACIES,    DONATIONS,    DEVISES. 


Dec.       1843.     Appleton,  William,  for    relief  of  indi- 
gent patients  at  Asylum    ....    $10000.00 
Aug.      1830.     Belknap,  Jeremiah,  for  free  beds       .     .      10000.00 

Nov.      1832,|-g^jj^         j^ 89882.60 

to  Jan.  1833.)  ^  ^ 

Jan.        1841.     Brimmer,  Mary  Anne,  for  free  beds      .        5000.00 

July,      1845.     Brown,  John  (lost  in  the  "  Lexington  ")  100.00 

March,  1847.     Clough,  Sarah,  a  domestic 599.84 

Commonwealth  of  Massachu- 
setts :  Old  Province  House  $40000.00 
V  K        1811    1  '^"'^  ^^^  labor  of  convicts  at 
^^"  '  /       Hospital  .     .     $30893.84 

^^'  At  Asylum.     .     .     417G.43 

35070.27 

■      75070.27 

Dec.       1838.     Courtis,  Ambrose  S.,  $10,000,  compro- 
mised with  heirs  for 2500.00 

March,  1826.     Crocker,  Allen 100.00 

Feb.       1825,     Davis,  Eleanor,  for  free  beds  ....  900.00 

April,     1820.     Eliot,  Samuel,  for  the  Asylum     .     .     .      10000.00 
July,      1844.     P^verett,  Moses,  donation  of    ....  116.00 

Oct.        1830.     Lee,  Joseph,  heir  of  Francis  Lee,  a  de- 
ceased patient,  stocks,  valued  at  .     .      20000.00 
June,      1813.     Lucas,  John,   six  shares  in  Worcester 

Turnpike,  worth 900.00 

Feb   1    18^4  > 

Tt       !    .!' r  M'Lean,  John      ....    $94858.20 
to  Nov.  1827. ) 

Oct.        1834.     And  after  his  widow's  death    25000.00 

119858.20 

Aug.       1834.     Moseley,  Jonathan .^  753.46 

March,   1844.     Munson,  Israel .*  20000.00 

May,       1849.     Nichols,  Benjamin  K 6000.00 

Jan.        1826.     Oliver,  Thomas 22438.70 


LEGACIES,    DONATIONS,    DEVISES,  443 

Sept.  1827.  Phillips,  William,  for  free  beds  .     .     .  foOOO.OO 

July,  1836.  Richardson,  Susan,  fur  female  free  beds  250.00 

Nov.  1819.     Russell,  Polly 400.00 

May,  1815.     Russell,  W. 100.00 

Jan.  1829.     Savage,  James 100.00 

Aug.  1831,  to  J  rpjj^^jj^g^  Isaiah,  bequest     .     $4599.81 
July,  1843.  ) 

May,'    1845.  „  „        182.02 

Aug.      1846.  „  „        235.00 

Oct.  1847,  to)  240.00 

Dec.  1850. ) 

5256.83 

Feb.       1850.     Todd,  Henry 5000.00 

July,       1823.     Touro,  Abraham 10000.00 

Sept.      1820.     Tucker,  Beza,  House  in  Boylston  Place, 

sold  for 5350.00 

Aug.      1842.     Tucker,  Margaret,  his  daughter,  for  free 

beds 2929.97 

Dec.       1845.     Waldo,  Daniel 40000.00 

Nov.      1841.     Warren,  John  C,  fund  for  books  to  be 

given  to  Hospital  patients   ....         1000.00 

Nov.      1822.     Webber,  Seth 1000.00 

March,  1841.     Westerfield,  Peter,  for  poor  patients     .  165.67 

April,     1851.     Wilder,  Dr.  Charles  W.,  of  Leominster, 

for  free  beds 20000.00 

March,  1819.     Williams,  John   D.,  store,   which  now 

rents  for  the  interest  of  $17,000  .     .      13000.00 

Making  in  all       .     .      $503,922.86 

The  valuations  in  this  list  are  those  on  the  books 
of  the  Hospital.  The  Province  House,  appraised  at 
$40,000,  brought  only  $33,000.  On  the  Lee  dona- 
tion there  was  perhaps  a  loss  of  $7,000  more.  From 
the  Wilder  donation  there  should  be  a  deduction  of 
$4,000  more  ;  the  M'Lean  $25,000  was  also  deficient. 
These  deductions  (about  $20,000)  are  probably  bal- 


LEGACIES,    DONATIONS,    DEVISES.;    - 

anced  by  the  increased  value  of  other  items  ;  say, 
at  least,  |12,000  or  $15,000  on  Mary  Belknap's 
bequest,  and  $4,000   on   Mr.  Williams's   devise. 

To  the  amount  in  page  443 $503,922.86 

should  be  added  the  receipts  from  the  Massachusetts 
Hospital  Life  Insurance  Company,  under  the  agree- 
ment referred  to  in  page  79 :  — 

Jan.     1829 8687.50 

1830 2500.00 

1831 2500.00 

„        1832 2500.00 

1833 2500.00 

1834 ,5000.00 

1835 5000.00 

1836 5000.00 

1837 5000.00 

1838 5000.00 

1839. 5000.00 

1840 5000.00 

June,  1840.     Extra 15000.00 

Jan.     1841 5000.00 

1842 5000.00 

„        1843 5000.00 

„        1844 5000.00 

„        1845 5000.00 

June,   1845.     Extra 20000.00 

Jan.     1846 5000.00 

„        1847 5000.00 

„        1848 5000.00 

„        1849 5000.00 

„        1850 5000.00 

June,  1850.     Extra 15000.00 

Jan.     ]851 5000.00 

150,687.50 

Total $654,610.36 


445 


GRAND   SUMMARY   OF   SUBSCRIPTIONS,   &c. 


Total  donations,  &c $654,G10.3G 

Original  subscriptions  for  Asylum  .     .     -.  $45,373.34 
Original  subscriptions  for  Hos- 
pital      $101,619.21 

Subscriptions  for    enlargement 

of  Hospital 62,550.00 

164,169.21 

—       209,542.55 

864,052.91 
P'ree-bed  subscriptions 65,069.17 

929,022.08 
Deduct  the  error  noticed  by  Mr.  Rogers,  p.  431    .     .  3,712.00 

925,510.08 
William  Appleton's  new  donation 20,000.00 


945,510.08 

Reversionary  interests,  say  — 

Present  value  of  Province  House,  leased 

till  1916 110,000.00  . 

John  Redman's  bequest,  at  least     .     .   100,000.00 

Thomas  Oliver's  bequest 50,000.00 

John  Bromfield's  bequest 40,000.00 

John  Parker's  bequest 10,000.00 

210,000.00 

1,155,510.08 
Estimated  value  of  the  rights  under  the  charter  of 
the  Massachusetts  Hospital  Life  Insurance  Com- 
pany, at  least 100,000.00 

Grand  Total $1,255,510.08 

Sat,  a  Million  and  a  Quarter  of  Dollars. 


446 


RESULTS     OF    ADMISSIONS     AND     DISCHARGES     AT     THE 
M'LEAN    ASYLUM    FROM    ITS    ESTABLISHMENT. 


Year. 

a 

•a 

M 

.a 

a 

13 

0) 

o 

s 

D3 

Dead. 

II 

< 

5  ^ 

11 

(S3 

? 
^ 
k 

<! 

1818) 
1819  J 
1820 

58 
44 

35 
40 

11 
11 

5 

1 

19 

28 

23 

27 

1821 

47 

46 

10 

3 

33 

28 

1822 

64 

50 

14 

5 

31 

42 

1823 

73 

61 

20 

2 

39 

54 

1824 

53 

56 

23 

5 

28 

51 

1825 

59 

56 

'21 

8 

27 

64 

1826 

47 

46 

20 

5 

21 

55 

1827 

58 

56 

34 

5 

17 

57 

1828 

77 

65 

23 

5 

37 

69 

1829 

73 

77 

26 

9 

42 

65 

1830 

82 

78 

34 

10 

34 

69 

1831 

83 

84 

30 

8 

46 

68 

1832 

94 

98 

43 

10 

45 

64 

1833 

103 

100 

42 

8 

60 

67 

1834 

107 

95 

41 

7 

47 

80 

1835 

83 

84 

45 

11 

28 

77 

1836 

106 

112 

64 

10 

38 

71 

1837 

120 

105 

72 

8 

25 

86 

80 

1838 

138 

131 

74 

12 

45 

93 

95 

1839 

132 

117 

69 

10 

38 

108 

112 

1840 

155 

138 

75 

13 

50 

125 

128 

1841 

157 

141 

75 

11 

55 

142 

135 

1842 

129 

138 

80 

15 

43 

133 

143 

1843 

127 

126 

63 

18 

45 

134 

131 

1844 

158 

140 

68 

19 

53 

152 

146 

1845 

119 

120 

74 

13 

33 

151 

149 

1846 

148 

126 

65 

9 

52 

173 

164 

1847 

170 

170 

87 

33 

60 

173 

172 

1848 

143 

155 

82 

23 

50 

155 

171 

1849 

161 

137 

64 

15 

58 

184 

177 

1850 

173 

157 

78 

28 

61 

200 

201 

Total  .  .  . 

8341 

3140 

1538 

344 

1258 

Since  Dr.  Bell 

2030 

1901 

1026 

227 

648 

Before   „ 

1311 

1239 

612 

117 

010 

3341 

3140 

1538 

344 

1258 

447 


UESULTS   OF  ADMISSIONS   AND   DISCHARGES  AT  THE   HOS- 
PITAL FROM  ITS   ESTABLISHMENT. 


1821  . 

1822  . 

1823  . 

1824  . 

1825  . 

1826  . 

1827  . 

1828  . 
182y  . 

1830  . 

1831  . 
1882  . 

1833  . 

1834  . 

1835  . 

1836  . 

1837  . 

1838  . 

1839  . 

1840  . 

1841  . 

1842  . 

1843  . 

1844  . 

1845  . 

1846  . 

1847  . 

1848  . 

1849  . 

1850  . 


In  house 


18 
115 

188 
349 
407 
553 
428 
544 
535 
423 
448 
447 
515 
481 
505 
485 
440 
380 
369 
362 
404 
347 
365 
435 
453 
459 
674 
804 
870 
746 


13549 


13549 
13431 


12 
103 
174 

838 
404 
550 
428 
548 
527 
429 
444 
448 
522 
486 
492 
482 
453 
384 
360 
355 
403 
344 
364 
431 
454 
447 
626 
813 
866 
744 


Well. 


13431 


118 


7 
60 
81 
152 
158 
228 
189 
269 
299 
221 
213 
259 
272 
242 
193 
224 
206 
174 
128 
144 
151 
121 
136 
183 
205 
211 
340 
400 
436 
363 


6265 


4 

28 
69 
103 
166 
221 
148 
172 
135 
124 
153 
100 
152 
137 
175 
155 
152 
121 
161 
137 
152 
137 
115 
137 
130 
137 
145 
219 
218 
200 


4203 


1 

3 
7 
4 
16 
68 
67 
59 
51 
46 
38 
38 
53 
57 
67 
55 
54 
48 
40 
43 
53 
45 
55 
41 
37 
30 
54 
52 
75 
56 


1313 


12 
12 
29 
34 
30 
18 
29 
32 
33 
28 
44 
31 
45 
44 
44 
32 
35 
19 
22 
26 
25 
41 
47 
54 
36 
57 
103 
84 
76 


1122 


347 


71 


110 


Total  admissions  on  the  books  to 
Dec.  31.  1850 13.533 

Total  discharges  on  books  to 
Dec.  31,  1850 13420 


Remaining  Dec.  31,  1850 


Do.  to  Sept.  1,  1851 


113 


14091 
1.3984 


This  Table  is  formed  from  the  official  Quarterly  Keports.  There  are  books  of  admission 
and  books  of  discharge,  in  whicli  the  numbers  opposite  to  each  name  have  been  continued  from 
the  beginning  So  that  the  difference  between  the  numbers  opposite  the  names  of  the  patient 
last  admitted,  and  of  the  patient  last  discharged,  ought  to  show  the  total  remaining  in  the 
Hospital.  Accidental  mistakes  have,  however,  occurred  from  time  to  time,  so  that  these  num 
bers  are  not  precisely  accurate,  either  positively  or  relatively. 


448  NEED    OF    FURTHER    AID. 

How  much  of  joy  and  of  sorrow,  of  life  and  of 
death,  is  compressed  within  this  little  table  of  admis- 
sions and  discharges !  An  army  of  more  than  thir- 
teen thousand  sufferers  received,  comforted,  and  cared 
for  in  our  institution ;  six  thousand  of  these  at  last 
discharged  well,  and  four  thousand  more,  to  a  greater 
or  less  extent,  relieved :  on  the  other  hand,  more 
than  eleven  hundred  of  them  borne  from  within  our 
walls  to  their  long  home !  *  What  can  surpass  the 
eloquence  of  statistics  ! 


In  view  of  the  facts  now  presented,  one  or  two  con- 
cluding remarks  may,  with  propriety,  be  made ;  and, 
first,  the  question  may  perhaps  fairly  be  asked, 
whether  an  institution  which  has  been  already  thus 
liberally  endowed  needs,  or  can  ever  need,  any  further 
aid.  To  this  I  answer,  that  our  two  estates  for  the 
sick  and  the  insane  have  cost  over  $500,000 ;  that 
our  present  invested  funds,  as  stated  in  the  last  annual 
report  for  1851,  were  |1 71,1 19.98,  to  which  add  Mr. 
Wilder's  legacy,  since  received,  and  the  amount  is 
about  1200,000,  yielding  an  interest  of  $12,000,— 
making,  with  the  annual  payment  of  $5,000  from  the 

*  Tliis  excessive  mortality  is  explained  by  the  fact  tliat  many  are  brought 
to  the  Hospital  in  a  dying  condition  from  recent  accidents. 


NEED    OF    FURTHER    AID.  449 

Massachusetts  Hospital  Life  Insurance  Company,  a 
total  income  of  $17,000.  The  reversionary  property 
to  which  the  Hospital  is  eventually  entitled,  on  the 
decease  of  certain  tenants  for  life,  &c.,  will  not  proba- 
bly be  received  for  many  years,  nor  until  the  increas- 
ing wants  of  the  institution  will  exhaust  all  the 
additional  income  thus  derived.*  The  number  of 
patients  at  the  Asylum  is  now  two  hundred,  —  as 
many,  it  is  believed  by  the  Trustees,  as  should  ever 
be  under  the  care  of  one  physician.    This  department, 


*  If  from  the  total  donations,  &c $1,257,610.08 

We  deduct  the  amounts  hitherto  received  from 

the  Life  Insurance  Company $150,687.50 

Also  the  free-bed  subscriptions 65,069.17 

The  same  having  been  received  and  expended 

as  income $215,756.67 

Also  the  estimated  value  of  the  life-office  char- 
ters, which  may  be  at  any  time  annulled  by 
the  Legislature 100,000.00 

Also  the  reversionary  interests  not  receivable  for 

many  years 210,000.00 

525,756.67 

There  will  remain  for  the  cost  of  Hospital  and  Asylum,  and 

the  invested  funds  yielding  income $731,753.41 

The  actual  balance  on  the  Treasurer's  books,  January,  1851,  is 
$700,029.38,  which,  of  course,  does  not  include  Dr.  Wild- 
er's  legacy  of  $20,000,  &c. 

By  the  Treasurer's  books,  it  appears  that  the  — 

Cost  of  Hospital  to  January,  1851,  was  .     .    $269,463.92 

Cost  of  Asylum  to  January,  1851,  was  .     .       246,345.98 

Cost  of  Mr.  Appleton's  new  buildings  will  be       20,000.00 

535,809.90 

The  balance  is  the  value  of  the  whole  invested  property  .     .     .    $195,943.51 
Or  say  about  $200,000. 
57 


450  NEED    OF    FURTHER    AID. 

therefore,  will  never  be  materially  enlarged.  The 
amount  charged  for  board  of  its  inmates  was,  during 
the  last  year,  $4:4,183.87.  It  fully  supports  itself,  or 
defrays  its  own  current  annual  expenses.*  But  there 
are  no  free  beds  in  that  department,  and  no  means 
available  for  reducing  the  expenses  of  its  patients, 
except  the  six  hundred  dollars  a  year  derived  from 
Mr.  Appleton's  ten  thousand  dollar  fund.  Now,  it  is 
obvious  that  the  sum  of  six  or  even  twelve  thousand 
dollars  a  year  could  be  advantageously  applied  for 
that  object.  This  alone  would  absorb  the  income  of 
an  additional  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars. 
Further,  the  grounds  of  the  Asylum  are  by  no  means 
sufficiently  extensive.  There  should  be  a  small  farm 
for  cultivation,  besides  more  spacious  enclosures  for 
gardens,  &c.  One  hundred  thousand  dollars  more 
would  perhaps  be  judiciously  expended  for  these  ob- 
jects. Though  this  department,  therefore,  is  at 
present  carried  on  without  being  a  burden  to  the 
general  funds  of  the  Corporation,  an  additional  dona- 
tion of  two  or  three  hundred  thousand  dollars  could 
be  most  usefully  applied  in  reducing  the  expenses 
and  increasing  the  comforts  of  its  large  band  of  un- 
fortunate inmates. 

*  Any  apparent  annual  surplus  of  receipts  from  the  Asylum  is  believed 
to  be  less  than  the  salaries  of  the  ofHcers,  which,  being  paid  by  the  Treasurer 
from  the  general  funds,  increase  to  that  extent  the  expenses  of  this  depart- 
ment. 


NEED    OF    FURTHER    AID.  451 

At  the  Hospital  in  Boston,  there  are  eighty  free 
beds ;  and,  of  the  remaining  patients,  few  pay  over 
three  dollars,  —  about  half  the  actual  cost.  The 
result  is,  as  stated  in  the  last  report,  that  its  annual 
expenses  exceed  its  annual  receipts  by  the  large  sum 
of  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  ;  while,  as  we  have 
just  seen,  our  whole  yearly  income  is  but  seventeen 
thousand  dollars.*  This  deficiency  has  hitherto  been 
made  good  by  private  subscriptions  for  free  beds,  and 
by  those  occasional  bequests,  &c.,  from  year  to  year, 
by  which  the  diminished  property  of  the  institution 
has  been  replaced.  The  permanent  supply  of  this 
deficiency  would  require  an  additional  donation  of  a 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars.  A  separate  build- 
ing for  the  accommodation  of  contagious,  offensive,  or 
delirious  patients,  is  at  this  very  time  urgently  pressed 
upon  the  notice    of   the   Trustees.     The   mere   cost 

*  The  salaries  of  the  institution  are  as  follows  :  — 

Treasurer $500 

Secretary  and  Auditor ' 200 

Physician  of  Asylum,  including  annual  grant  of  $500 2000 

Steward  and  Matron  of  Asylum 1450 

Assistant  Physician  of  Asylum 700 

Male  Supervisor  of  Asylum 600 

Female  Supervisor  of  Asylum 400 

Superintendent  of  Hospital 1500 

Admitting  Physician  of  Hospital 200 

Apothecary  of  Hospital,  say  (average) 300 

Four  Medical  and  Surgical  House-pupils  at  Hospital,  $50  each      .     .  200 

$7950 


452  NEED    OF    FURTHER   AID. 

of  a  suitable  fence  is  estimated  at  ten  or  fifteen  thou- 
sand dollars ;  and  the  Board  have  not  hitherto  felt 
themselves  justified  in  ordering  one,  though  well 
aware  that  the  present  unsightly  structure  disfigures 
and  disgraces  the  institution.  Besides,  the  Hospital 
at  present  accommodates  only  about  a  hundred  and 
twenty  patients,  —  a  number  extremely  small,  when 
compared  with  that  in  any  similar  establishment  of 
the  Old  World.  The  necessity  of  another  separate 
Hospital  has  been,  for  this  reason,  already  strenuously 
and  ably  urged  upon  the  consideration  of  the  City 
Government.  There  can  be  no  doubt,  indeed,  that, 
with  the  growing  necessities  of  an  advancing  popu- 
lation, additional  buildings  must  and  will  be  eventu- 
ally erected  within  our  enclosure,  —  greatly  increasing 
the  cost  of  this  portion  of  our  fixed  property,  and  also 
its  future  annual  expenses.  An  additional  donation 
of  two  or  three  hundred  thousand  dollars  for  the 
ultimate  extension  of  this  department  would  proba- 
bly be  a  most  judicious  and  useful  charity. 

One  other  question  also  perhaps  remains  to  be 
asked,  viz.,  Have  the  large  sums  already  given  by 
the  community  been  faithfully  managed  and  applied'? 
and  have  the  results  of  our  two  departments  been 
commensurate  with  the  magnitude  of  the  means 
placed  at  our  disposal]  To  this  inquiry,  1  trust  that 
the    present    publication    will    afford    a    satisfactory 


NEED    OF    FURTHER    ATD.  453 

reply.  It  has  certainly  been  the  constant  endeavor 
of  the  Trustees  to  check,  and,  if  possible,  prevent, 
all  abuses.  In  their  appointments  to  office,  they 
have  always  aimed  at  selecting,  without  fear  or  favor, 
those  individuals  whom  they  conscientiously  believed 
to  be  best  qualified.  The  general  fitness  and  wisdom 
of  these  appointments  they  fearlessly  leave  to  the 
judgment  of  an  intelligent  public.  Where,  indeed, 
can  be  found  physicians  more  wise  or  more  kind  than 
those  who,  from  year  to  year,  have  stood  by  the  bed- 
side of  our  patients  1  or  surgeons  more  skilful  than 
those  to  whose  firm  and  cautious  hands,  we  have, 
from  year  to  year,  entrusted  their  lives  and  limbs 
as,  if  need  were,  we  would  have  unhesitatingly 
submitted  our  own  ?  Where  are  nurses  more  faithful 
and  devoted  than  our  own  "  sisters  of  charity "  1 
Who  could  have  better  "  ministered  to  the  mind  dis- 
eased "  than  those  who  have  successively  been  called 
by  us  to  that  highest  of  human  trusts,  —  the  cure  of 
insanity?  How  ably  have  the  complicated  details 
of  our  two  establishments  been  managed  by  those 
to  whom,  from  time  to  time,  we  have  confided  that 
difficult  and  delicate  task !  That  deficiencies  exist, 
indeed,  in  each  department  of  the  institution,  its  Trus- 
tees are  well  aware.  For  instance,  inadequate  oppor- 
tunities for  air  and  exercise  afi"orded  to  the  female 


454  THE    GOOD    ACCOMPLISHED 

patients  at  the  Asylum,*  and  a  tendency  to  an  excess 
of  foreigners  among  the  patients  at  the  Hospital, 
they  feel  to  be  evils ;  and  the  latter  especially  one  of 
the  greatest  magnitude,  tending  to  the  entire  violation 
of  the  intent  of  its  original  founders.  The  Admitting 
Physician  has  been  requested  to  use  the  utmost  vigi- 
lance on  this  point,  that  none  may  be  received  who 
should  properly  be  sent  to  the  city  institutions  at 
South  Boston.  The  admission  of  such  patients  creates 
in  the  minds  of  our  own  citizens  a  prejudice  against 
the  Hospital,  making  them  unwilling  to  enter  it,  —  and 
thus  tends  directly  to  lower  the  general  standing  and 
character  of  its  inmates.  Some  such  admissions 
must  unavoidably  take  place.  Thus  there  has  always 
existed  a  most  excellent  rule,  that  every  case  of 
sudden  accident  may  at  once  be  brought  to  the 
Hospital.  A  broken  arm  or  leg  is  a  plenary  cer- 
tificate, entitling  the  hearer  to  all  its  benefits.  Of 
these  sufferers  by  accidents,  —  laborers  on  railroads, 
canals,  buildings,  &c.,  —  a  very  large  jjroportion  are 
Irish.  Some  of  them  are,  in  all  respects,  most  de- 
serving and  suitable  persons ;  while  others  are  so 
repulsive   in   their   personal  habits   and    appearance 


[*  It  would  have  afforded  Mr.  Bowditch  the  highest  satisfaction  to  have 
known  how  this  deficiency  has  been  met  since  his  death  by  extensive  pur- 
chases of  additional  land.) 


BY   PAST    DONATIONS.  455 

as  to  be  disgusting  and  offensive  to  those  near  them, 
and  most  unwelcome  and  unfit  guests  for  our  neat 
and  orderly  establishment.* 

On  the  whole,  however,  it  is  believed  that  both 
institutions  have  been  uniformly  managed  with  great 
fidelity  and  success.  Massachusetts  has,  indeed, 
within  her  borders  no  nobler  monuments  than  her 
General  Hospital  for  the  sick,  and  her  M'Lean  Asy- 
lum for  the  insane.  Glorious  memorials  of  Christian 
charity,  teachers  of  the  great  lesson  of  man's  brother- 
hood to  man !  long  may  ye  stand,  an  honor  to  the 
ages  past,  a  blessing  throughout  the  ages  to  come ! 

*  In  such  cases,  the  primary  medical  prescription  is  a  warm  bath ;  and, 
in  many  instances,  a  bath  of  any  kind  is  obviously  an  entire  novelty.  An 
Irisliman  of  this  class  was  received  into  a  sister  institution,  and  made  per- 
fectly clean.  As  he  emerged  from  the  unwonted  process,  the  physician  said 
to  him,  "  Well,  Patrick,  how  do  you  feel  1  "  His  reply  was,  "  Ocli  faith  !  yer 
honor,  and  sure  I  can't  tell  ye  till  to-morrow ;  for  'tis  the  first  time  in  me  life 
I  ever  tried  it." 


CONTINUATION    OF    THE    HISTORY 

Ekom   1851   TO   1872. 

PREPARED   BY   REQUEST    IN   A   VOTE   OF    THE   TRUSTEES,    CHIEFLY   FROM 
THE   RECORDS   AND   ANNUAL  REPORTS. 


58 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

From  August   5,  1851,  to   March  16,  1856. 

Mr.  Bowditch's  History:  Its  Value.  —  Thanks  of  the  Committee 
OF  Trustees.  —  Claim  of  the  Corporation  on  a  Life  Insurance 
Company.  —  Pipes  for  the  Cochituate  Water.  —  Visitors  to  the 
Kailroad  Jubilee.  —  Charges  for  Out-of-Town  Patients.  —  Dr. 
Warren's  Gift  of  Surgical  Instruments.  —  Indexes  to  Hospital 
Records.  —  Contract  for  Water.  —  Office  of  Chemist  and  Micro- 
scopiST.  —  Dr.  J.  Bacon,  jun.,  elected  thereto.  —  Case  of  Alleged 
Abuse  at  Asylum  Investigated.  —  Bequest  from  Mrs.  Salisbury. 

—  Report  for  1851.  —  Improvements  at  the  Asylum.  —  Organiza- 
tion for  1852.  —  Tribute  to  Mr.  Rogers.  —  A  Question  of  Pre- 
rogative.—  Legacy  from  J.  Ingersoll.  —  Sad  Occurrence  at  the 
Hospital. — Resignation  of  Dr.  J.  C.  Warren.  —  Annual  Meeting. 

—  Organization  for  1853.  —  Report  for  1852.  —  Resignation  of 
Mr.  Goodhue.  —  New  Supervisors  at  the  Asylum.  —  Another 
Offering  from  Mr.  Bowditch.  —  Tribute  to  Hon.  S.  Appleton. — 
Hospital  Index.  —  Additional  Physician  at  Asylum.  —  Annual 
Meeting.  —  Organization  for  1854.  —  Report  for  1853.  —  Bequest 
of  Judah  Touro. —  Death  of  Dr.  Shattuck.  —  Building  of  a 
Foul  Ward.  — Dr.  J.  Homans  elected  a  Consulting  Physician.  — 
Dr.  M.  Ranney,  Assistant-Physician  at  Asylum.  —  Pathological 
Museum.  —  Gift  from  S.  Appleton's  Estate.  —  Gift  of  J.  B. 
Bradlee.  —  Dr.  C.  Ellis,  Curator  of  the  Pathological  Cabinet. 

—  Death  of  Dr.  S.  Parkman.  — Dr.  G.  H.  Gay  elected  a  Visiting 
Surgeon.  —  Annual  Meeting,  1855.  —  Organization.  —  Report  for 
1854.  —  Tribute  to  J.  P.  Bigelow.  —  Microscopist  at  the  Hos- 
pital. —  Resignation  of  Dr.  J.  Bigelow.  —  Additional  Rooms  at 
Hospital.  — Bequest  of  Miss  E.  Pratt.  —  New  Pence  at  Hospital. 

—  Annual  Meeting.  —  Organization  for  1856.  —  Report  for  1855. 

—  Resignation  of  Dr.  Bell  :  his  Farewell. 

The  report  to  the  Trustees  of  the  Hospital,  made  by 
the  Committee  for  the  year  1851,  closes  with  the  fol- 
lowing acknowledgment  of  the  labor  of  love  and  zeal 


460  MR.  bowditch's  history. 

done  by  Mr.  Bowditch  in  behalf  of  the  Institution, 
which  he  had  served  with  such  fidehty  in  very  many 
ways :  — 

"Your  Committee  would  also,  among  the  important  events 
of  last  year,  notice  the  publication  of  a  most  valuable  and 
interesting  History  of  the  Hospital,  by  the  private  liberality 
of  the  Chairman  of  this  Board,  who  has  for  so  many  years 
aided  the  government  of  the  Institution  by  his  counsel  and 
experience,  and  cheered  its  inmates  by  his  kindness  and 
encouraging  sympathy." 

Mr.  Bowditch  was  at  that  time  Chairman  of  the 
Board  of  Trustees,  which  office  he  held  till  1856, 
when,  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Corporation,  he 
was  elected  Vice-President,  being  annually  re-elected 
as  such  till  his  death  in  April,  1861. 

It  will  be  most  fitting  to  defer  to  the  summary  of 
the  History  of  the  Institution  for  the  year  last  men- 
tioned an  appropriate  tribute  to  that  honored  man, 
whose  large  and  beautiful  culture,  added  to  fine 
natural  endowments,  whose  sensibility  of  feeling, 
whose  wise  practical  judgment  and  varied  labors  of 
love  and  ingenuity  were  devoted  to  its  welfare. 

The  last  abstract  in  Mr.  Bowditch's  History  is  of 
the  business  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  at  its  meeting 
on  July  15,  1851.  Several  matters  of  interest  and 
importance  engaged  the  action  of  the  Board  before 
the  close  of  that  year.     At  the  meeting  on  Aug.  5, 


GIFT    FROM    DR.   J.    C.    WARREN.  461 

Rejoice  Newton,  Esq.,  was  authorized  to  take  proper 
legal  steps  for  collecting  of  the  State  Mutual  Life 
Insurance  Company  the  proportion  of  profits  to  which 
this  Corporation  is  entitled.  An  instrument,  exe- 
cuted by  the  President,  William  Appleton,  Esq., 
with  the  Boston  and  Lowell  Railroad  Corporation 
respecting  the  laying  of  the  Cochituate  water-pipes 
along  a  portion  of  the  line  of  that  road,  was  adopted 
and  ratified.  At  the  meeting  of  the  Board  on  Sept. 
16,  an  invitation  was  extended  to  the  expected  guests 
of  the  city,  from  Canada  and  elsewhere,  for  the  ap- 
proaching Railroad  Jubilee,  to  visit  both  depart- 
ments of  this  institution,  in  Boston  and  Somerville,  at 
their  convenience.  Messrs.  Appleton,  Hooper,  and 
Bowditch  were  chosen  a  Committee  to  receive  such 
visitors. 

At  the  meeting  on  Oct.  10,  it  was  voted  that 
when  the  Admitting  Physician  is  called  to  visit  pa- 
tients, applicants  for  admission  to  the  Hospital,  who 
reside  outside  of  the  limits  of  the  city  proper,  he  is 
authorized  to  charge  such  patients  the  usual  fee  for 
his  services ;  and  if  they  are  unable  to  pay,  he  is 
to  charge  the  same  to  the  Hospital.  A  letter  was 
received  by  the  Board  at  its  meeting,  Nov.  2, 
from  Dr.  John  C.  Warren,  accompanying  the  gift 
from  him  of  a  valuable  case  of  surgical  instruments, 
when  it  was  voted,  "  That  the  Trustees   gratefully 


462       CHEMIST    AND    MICROSCOPIST   AT    THE    HOSPITAL. 

accept  the  same  ;  and  that  they  would  present  to  Dr. 
Warren  their  sincere  thanks  for  this  new  instance  of 
his  continued  interest  in  this  institution."  The  Phy- 
sicians and  Surgeons  made  a  communication  to  the 
Board,  which  was  referred  for  report  to  Messrs.  Dale 
and  Stevenson,  relative  to  the  appointment  of  a 
Chemist  and  Microscopist  for  the  Hospital. 

At  the  meeting  on  Nov.  16,  the  Board,  continuing 
its  care  for  securing  proper  Indexes  to  its  Medical 
and  Surgical  Records,  acknowledged  the  receipt  of  a 
fifth  volume  of  the  Index  prepared  by  Dr.  Thayer; 
and  the  Treasurer  was  authorized  to  pay  him  one 
hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars  therefor.  The  Chair- 
man, Mr.  Bowditch,  was  authorized  to  execute,  on  the 
part  of  this  Corporation,  with  the  Cochituate  Water 
Board  of  Boston,  an  instrument  concerning  the  privi- 
lege allowed  of  connecting  with  the  water-pipes,  and 
drawing  therefrom  for  the  use  of  the  Asylum,  and 
also  regulating  the  rates  of  payment.  The  Com- 
mittee on  the  appointment  of  a  Chemist  and  Micro- 
scopist made  a  report,  which  was  accepted ;  and  the 
votes  recommended  by  them  were  passed,  —  that 
such  an  officer  should  be  elected  annually  by  the 
Trustees,  at  the  first  meeting  succeeding  the  annual 
meeting  of  the  Corporation,  with  a  statement  of  the 
scientific  qualifications  which  should  be  required,  and 
a   defining  of  the   duties  to  be  exacted  of   him,  in 


COMPLAINT   AT   THE   ASYLUM    INVESTIGATED.        463 

the  Medical  and  Surgical  Departments,  in  attendance 
on  autopsies  within  the  walls  of  the  Hospital,  and 
in  the  preparation  of  records  of  his  observations,  with 
the  privilege,  when  matters  of  sufficient  importance 
have  accumulated  as  results,  of  publishing  them  to 
the  world,  under  the  patronage  of  the  Hospital, 
and  at  the  discretion  of  the  Surgeons  and  Physi- 
cians. At  the  next  meeting  of  the  Board,  on  Nov. 
30,  Dr.  John  Bacon,  jun.,  was  chosen  Chemist  and 
Microscopist  for  the  remainder  of  the  year. 

Dr.  Bell  reported  another  of  the  cases  occasionally 
arising  at  the  Asylum,  of  a  complaint  on  the  part  of 
a  patient  of  alleged  maltreatment,  and  requested  the 
appointment  of  a  committee  to  investigate  the  case. 
Messrs.  Bowditch,  Rogers,  Lawrence,  and  Stevenson 
were  accordingly  appointed  as  such  a  committee. 
The  matter  is  regarded  as  worthy  of  mention  here 
only  as  it  illustrates  the  care  and  patience  and  fidelity 
which  have  uniformly  been  engaged  on  the  part  of 
the  Trustees  in  the  thorough  examination  of  every 
similar  complaint  brought  against  the  officials  in 
charge  of  either  branch  of  this  institution,  or  against 
any  subordinate  or  attendant.  As  might  be  expected, 
the  report  of  the  Committee,  made  at  the  next 
meeting,  Dec.  14,  asserted  that,  after  the  most  minute 
and  impartial  investigation  of  the  case,  the  charge 
alleged  was  wholly  groundless.     The  Secretary  was 


464  BEQUEST    FROM   MRS.   SALISBURY. 

instructed  to  read  this  report  to  the  attorneys  of  the 
complainant  if  they  should  be  desirous  of  hearing  it. 

Messrs.  Dale  and  Dexter  were  appointed  to  examine 
the  Treasurer's  accounts  and  to  prepare  the  annual 
report. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Board  Dec.  28,  a  letter  was 
read  which  was  received  by  the  Treasurer  from 
Stephen  Salisbury,  Esq.,  of  Worcester.  The  writer 
informed  the  Board  that  his  mother,  recently  de- 
ceased, left  no  will,  but  that  he  found  among  her 
papers  a  memorandum  expressing  her  wish  that  $4,000 
of  her  property  should  be  given  to  the  Massachusetts 
General  Hospital.  In  conformity  with  this  wish,  Mr. 
Salisbury  enclosed  a  check  for  that  sum.  In  accept- 
ing and  acknowledging  this  gift,  the  Board  recognized 
the  interest  which  the  late  Mrs.  Salisbury  had  for 
many  years  manifested  in  this  institution  by  the 
maintenance  of  a  free  bed  at  the  Hospital,  and 
lamented  in  her  death  the  loss  of  a  benefactress.  The 
Board  also  recognized  "  in  the  prompt  and  cordial 
fulfilment  of  her  benevolent  intentions  a  graceful  and 
an  honorable  act  of  filial  piety."  A  vote  was  passed 
making  it  the  duty  of  the  House  Pupils,  in  the 
Medical  and  Surgical  Departments  respectively,  to 
make  up  and  present  at  the  quarterly  meetings  of  the 
Board  the  Indexes  to  the  Medical  and  Surgical 
Records.     The    Superintendent  was   directed,  under 


REPORT    FOR    1851.  465 

the  advice  of  the  Chairman,  to  procure  tablets  to  be 
placed  on  or  under  each  of  the  portraits  in  the 
Hospital,  each  tablet  to  contain  the  name  and  date  of 
the  death  of  the  original  of  the  portrait.  This  direc- 
tion was  carried  into  effect  in  November  of  the  next 
year.  At  the  quarterly  meeting  of  the  Board,  held 
at  the  Asylum,  Jan.  21,  1852,  the  salary  of  Homer 
Goodhue,  the  male  Supervisor,  was  raised  to  $600  a 
year. 

The  report  of  the  Trustees  for  1851 — of  which 
it  was  ordered  that  fifteen  hundred  copies  should  be 
printed  —  was  presented  to  the  Corporation  at  the 
annual  meeting,  Jan.  28,  1852.  It  appeared  from  the 
Treasurer's  accounts  that  the  whole  income  of  the 
year  had  been  $21,391.32,  and  that  the  expenses  had 
been  |45,619.13.  The  report  makes  grateful  men- 
tion of  the  munificent  bequest  of  Dr.  C.  W.  Wilder, 
and  of  the  gift,  through  the  son,  of  Mrs.  Salisbury  ;  it 
refers  to  the  loss  of  the  valuable  services  of  Dr.  George 
Hayward,  through  his  resignation,  and  to  the  appoint- 
ment of  Dr.  PI.  G.  Clark,  as  his  successor ;  —  these, 
with  the  election  of  new  House  Pupils  and  of  Dr.  J. 
Bacon,  jun.,  as  Chemist  and  Microscopist,  being  the 
only  changes  in  the  Medical  Staff  for  the  year.  From 
the  report  of  Mr.  Girdler,  the  Superintendent  of  the 
Hospital,  it  appeared  that  the  whole  number  of 
patients  for  the  year  was  839,  at  an  average  weekly 

59 


466  COCHITUATE  WATER    AT   THE   ASYLUM. 

expense  for  board  of  $4.84.  Attention  was  again 
urged  to  the  necessity  of  a  new  building  for  the 
reception  of  contagious,  foul,  and  other  disorders  ; 
and  notice  was  taken  of  an  accompanying  commu- 
nication from  Dr.  Samuel  Parkman,  one  of  the  Sur- 
geons, on  the  advantages  of  an  additional  wing  with 
separate  rooms   for  single  patients. 

Dr.  Bell  reported  the  whole  number  of  patients 
that  had  been  under  treatment  at  the  Asylum  during 
the  year  as  364,  and  as  remaining  at  the  close  of  the 
year,  191.  Dr.  Bell  renews  his  reference  to  the  fact 
that  the  Asylum  is  generally  filled  to  its  utmost 
capacity,  and  that,  though  he  is  constantly  obliged  to 
refuse  applications  for  admission,  he  never  does  so 
except  the  number  of  patients  would  exceed  two 
hundred.  He  regards  it  as  never  permissible  or  jus- 
tifiable to  put  two  patients  in  one  room. 

After  a  reference  to  the  commencement  and  prog- 
ress of  the  new  Appleton  wards.  Dr.  Bell  gives  an 
elaborate  account  of  the  introduction  of  the  Cochituate 
water.  The  Asylum  had  sufi"ered  from  its  commence- 
ment from  the  want  of  an  adequate  supply  of  water 
for  bathing  and  laundry  purposes :  the  deep  wells 
through  the  diluvial  gravel  of  the  hill,  while  affording 
what  was  exceedingly  fine  for  drinking,  were  so  highly 
impregnated  with  sulphate  of  lime  as  to  interfere  with 
their  uses  for  cleansing.     Though  by  conduits  from 


COCHITUATE   WATER    AT   THE    ASYLUM.  467 

the  roofs  and  capacious  cisterns,  the  rain-water  which 
fell  upon  an  acre  and  a  half  of  surface  was  availed  of, 
it  proved  insufficient ;  and  this  had  to  be  raised  to  the 
tops  of  the  buildings,  and  distributed  by  expensive 
methods.  On  the  introduction  of  the  Cochituate  water 
into  Boston,  and  the  subsequent  provision  for  the 
supply  of  East  Boston  by  crossing  Charles  River  into 
Charlestown  through  pipes  and  an  inverted  syphon 
under  the  channel,  a  successful  application  was  made 
by  the  Board  to  the  Water  Commissioners  for  per- 
mission to  convey  the  water  from  Charlestown  Square, 
through  its  territory,  for  about  two  thousand  feet,  to 
the  flats  at  the  State  Prison,  whence,  by  about  the 
same  additional  distance,  it  might  be  carried  to  the 
Asylum.  Permission  was  then  asked  of  the  Charles- 
town authorities  to  lay  the  necessary  pipes,  —  all  costs 
and  risks,  of  course,  being  assumed  by  the  Hospital 
Corporation.  "  With  a  degree  of  surprise  beyond  the 
power  of  language  to  express,"  says  Dr.  Bell,  the 
authorities  of  Charlestown  made  the  granting  of 
the  privilege  conditional  upon  the  provision  by  the 
Hospital  of  a  series  of  hydrants  for  the  use  of  the 
city.  The  Trustees,  not  being  inclined  to  make  from 
their  funds  this  contribution  to  the  fire  apparatus  of 
Charlestown,  turned,  as  an  alternative,  to  a  route  by 
the  Lowell  Railroad  and  its  bridge.  Full  and  uncon- 
ditioned permission  was  granted   on  application  for 


468  IMPROVEMENTS    AT    THE   ASYLUM. 

this  privilege,  though  the  necessary  works  had  to  be 
carried  for  more  than  a  mile  on  the  crowded  track 
of  that  road.  The  full,  pure  stream  poured  into  the 
Asylum  in  December,  rising  in  the  domes  to  a  level 
about  twelve  feet  below  its  surface  in  the  Beacon-hill 
Heservoir.  Dr.  Bell  describes  very  minutely  the 
processes  and  the  materials  used  in  this  enterprise. 
Block-tin  pipes  were  preferred,  from  2  to  2  J  inches  in 
diameter,  in  lengths  of  about  15  feet,  united  at  the 
joints  by  melting  the  metal,  instead  of  by  soldering. 
The  pipes  cross  a  main  bridge  and  three  minor 
bridges,  and  are  led  under  water  in  strongly  ironed 
oak  logs,  the  interstices  being  filled  with  plaster  of 
Paris,  and,  where  there  was  danger  of  freezing,  en- 
closed in  wooden  boxings  filled  with  melted  resin. 
Though  the  cost  of  the  undertaking  was  near  $6,000, 
it  was  still  found  to  be  a  saving  one. 

Dr.  Bell  again  refers  to  that  steady  adaptation  by 
which  the  furnishings,  the  arrangements,  and  the 
management  of  the  Asylum  have  fitted  it  to  afford  the 
fullest  means  of  comfort,  and  even  of  luxury,  to  a 
class  of  patients  who  had  been  used  to  a  generous 
mode  of  life,  and  who  with  their  friends  were  able 
and  willing  to  pay  more  than  remunerating  charges 
therefor.  In  this  way  the  Asylum  is  enabled  to 
receive  many  patients  in  very  restricted  circumstances, 
either  gratuitously  or  at  rates  much  below  the  actual 


ANNUAL    MEETING.  469 

expense.  In  fact  the  major  portion  of  its  inmates, 
being  charged  much  less  than  the  actual  outlay  for 
their  support  and  oversight,  are  receivers  not  only 
from  the  general  fund  of  benevolence  contributed  to 
the  institution,  but  also  from  the  annual  contributions 
in  their  behalf  made  by  the  friends  of  a  few  of  the 
patients. 

Dr.  Bell  closes  his  report  by  adverting  briefly  to 
those  results  of  his  experience  so  faithfully  and 
intelligently  acquked  by  him,  which  he  sustains  by 
a  quotation  from  an  eminent  author  and  director 
of  a  similar  institution,  relating  to  the  occasional 
complaints  of  discharged  patients,  or  their  unwise 
or  uninformed  or  credulous  friends.  He  had  learned 
to  bear  patiently  all  the  annoyances  visited  upon  him 
from  these  sources,  trusting,  as  he  might,  to  the 
confidence  reposed  in  him  by  the  Trustees  in  their 
constant  routine  of  inspection,  and  to  the  thorough 
investigation  of  each  and  every  case,  however  mis- 
taken or  groundless  the  allegations  of  complaint  or 
rumor. 

The  annual  meeting  of  the  Corporation  was  held 
on  Jan.  28,  1852,  and  the  first  meeting  of  the 
Board  of  Trustees  after  it  was  held  on  Feb.  22. 
It  appeared  that  the  following  officers  had.  been 
elected  for  the  ensuing  year:  viz.,  William  Appleton, 
President;    Robert   Hooper,  Vice-President;    Henry 


470  ORGANIZATION    FOR   1852. 

Andrews,  Treasurer;  Marcus  Morton,  jun..  Secre- 
tary ;  Messrs.  N.  I.  Bowditch,  G.  M.  Dexter,  A.  A. 
Lawrence,  F.  C.  Lowell,  C.  H.  Mills,  G.  H.  Shaw, 
J.  T.  Stevenson,  and  E.  Wiggles  worth,  Trustees 
on  the  part  of  the  Corporation  ;  and  Messrs.  J.  P. 
Bigelow,  W.  S.  Bullard,  W.  J.  Dale,  and  T.  Lamb, 
Trustees  on  the  part  of  the  Commonwealth.  N.  I. 
Bowditch  was  elected,  by  ballot.  Chairman  of  the 
Board  for  the  ensuing  year.  The  officers  of  the 
Hospital  and  Asylum  for  the  year  were  chosen  as 
follows :  Drs.  J.  Jackson,  J.  Jeffries,  G.  C.  Shattuck, 
and  E.  Reynolds,  as  a  Board  of  Consultation ;  Drs. 
J.  Bigelow,  J.  B.  S.  Jackson,  G.  C.  Shattuck,  jun., 
H.  I.  Bowditch,  M.  S.  Perry,  and  D.  H.  Storer,  Visit- 
ing Physicians ;  Drs.  J.  C.  Warren,  S.  D.  Townsend, 
J.  Mason  Warren,  S.  Parkman,  H.  J.  Bigelow,  and 
H.  G.  Clark,  Visiting  Surgeons  ;  Dr.  J.  Bacon,  jun.. 
Chemist  and  Microscopist ;  Dr.  S.  L.  Abbot,  Admitting 
Physician ;  P.  Girdler,  Superintendent  of  the  Hos- 
pital ;  Dr.  L.  V.  Bell,  Physician  and  Superintendent 
of  the  M'Lean  Asylum ;  Columbus  Tyler,  Steward  ; 
and  Mrs.  M.  E.  Tyler,  Matron.  The  Standing  Com- 
mittees of  the  Board  were  appointed,  and  the  Visiting 
Committees  were  arranged  for  the  year.  Henry  B. 
Pogers  not  having  been  re-appointed  a  Trustee  on  the 
part  of  the  State,  the  Board,  by  a  preamble  and  vote, 


SERVICES    OF    HENRY    B.    ROGERS.  471 

unanimously  passed,  presented  to  liira  its  thanks  for 
his  twelve  years  of  devoted  service. 

"  In  the  annals  of  this  charity,"  reads  the  vote,  "  there 
will  hardly  be  found  an  instance  of  more  devoted  official 
fidelity.  To  his  personal  influence  and  exertions,  more  than 
to  any  other  cause,  we  are  indebted  for  that  noble  public 
subscription,  which,  by  the  enlargement  of  the  Hospital,  has 
doubled  its  means  of  usefulness.  He  was  vigilant  in  enforc- 
ing a  prudent  economy  in  the  expenditures  of  the  institution. 
Our  records  bear  witness  to  his  clear  and  able  reports  on  the 
various  important  subjects  which,  from  time  to  time,  were 
submitted  to  his  consideration.  The  donation  book  has  been 
under  his  exclusive  control.  His  votes  have  always  been 
given  in  accordance  with  his  convictions  of  duty,  even  when 
they  involved  the  sacrifice  of  personal  feelings." 

Happily  the  Board  was  not  to  be  long  deprived 
of  the  services  of  this  faithful  member  of  it. 

At  the  next  meeting  of  the  Trustees,  on  May  7, 
a  letter  of  reply  from  Mr.  Rogers  was  received  and 
read.  On  the  nomination  of  Dr.  Bell,  Dr.  C.  Booth 
was  elected  Assistant  Physician;  Homer  Goodhue, 
male  Supervisor ;  and  Miss  R.  R.  Barber,  female 
Supervisor  of  the  Asylum. 

A  communication  from  the  Physicians  and  Sur- 
geons was  laid  before  the  Board,  asking  whether  they 
should  not  return  a  negative  answer  to  an  inquiry 
made  of  them  by  the  House  Pupils,  —  "  If  they  are 


472  A    QUESTION    OF   PREROGATIVE. 

to  consider  themselves  amenable  in  matters  purely 
medical  and  surgical  to  any  officer  of  the  Cor- 
poration, other  than  the  attending  Physicians  and 
Surgeons'?"  The  action  of  the  Trustees,  when  this 
"  inquiry"  came  before  them,  might  well  be  inferred 
from  their  own  sense  of  their  duties,  rights,  and 
responsibilities,  from  their  ready  and  courteous  recog- 
nition of  the  professional  and  official  claims  of  those 
to  whom  they  delegated  authority  within  the  walls  of 
the  Hospital,  and  from  their  intention  to  retain  their 
own  reserved  authority,  even  if  the  assertion  of  it 
involved  a  rebuke  to  any  who  might  bring  it  under 
question.     It  was  — 

Voted,  "That  every  officer  of  the  Hospital,  in  the  dis- 
charge of  his  duties,  is  responsible  to  the  Board  of  Trustees. 
In  matters  purely  medical  or  surgical,  indeed,  the  Board 
confide  in  the  ability  and  discretion  of  gentlemen  selected  by 
themselves,  and  would  not  think  of  interfering  with  their 
prescriptions  or  practice.  But  should  a  specific  charge  be 
made  against  any  Physician  or  Surgeon,  either  of  a  want  of 
competency  and  skill,  or  of  humanity  or  delicacy  in  the 
treatment  of  a  patient,  the  Trustees  would  feel  it  to  be  not 
only  their  right,  but  their  duty,  to  investigate  the  circum- 
stances of  the  case,  and  to  act  as  in  their  opinion  should  be 
required  by  a  due  regard  to  the  interests  of  the  Institution 
and  of  the  community.  So  likewise  the  Trustees  will  not 
interfere  with  the  professional  duties  jjrescribed  to  medical 
and  surgical  pupils  by  their  immediate  superiors,  but  will, 
nevertheless,  at  all   times,   hold   them   accountable    for   the 


CHANGE    IN    TIME    AND    PLACE    OF    MEETING.       473 

performance  of  those   duties  in  an  exact,  kind,  and  proper 
manner." 

Voted,  "  That  the  Trustees  cannot  refrain  from  expressino- 
their  surprise  at  the  inquiry  thus  submitted  by  the  medical 
and  surgical  pupils,  —  an  inquiry  which  would  seem  to  be 
founded  on  an  entire  misapprehension  of  their  own  true  posi- 
tion, and  an  unwillingness  to  recognize  the  paramount  au- 
thority of  tliis  Board,  or  of  its  duly  constituted  committees." 

A  copy  of  the  foregoing  votes  was  ordered  to  be 
sent  to  each  of  the  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  and 
a  Committee  of  the  Trustees  was  instructed  "  to 
inquire  whether  there  has  been  any  want  of  due 
subordination  and  propriety  on  the  part  of  any  of 
the  House  Pupils,"  and  especially  to  investigate  the 
circumstances  of  a  case  which  had  been  brought  to 
the  notice  of  the  Visiting  Committee.  The  same 
Committee  was  to  consider  and  report  whether  it 
was  expedient  to  make  any  change  in  the  rules  and 
regulations  in  regard  to  House  Pupils.  As  was  to 
be  expected,  frankness  and  a  mutual  understanding 
disposed  of  this  question.  Up  to  this  time,  the 
semi-monthly  meetings  of  the  Trustees  had  been 
held  at  the  Hospital,  after  the  close  of  the  second 
service  on  Sunday.  The  meeting  on  Monday,  June 
7,  1852,  was  held  at  the  American  Insurance  Office, 
in  State  Street,  as  were  also  several  subsequent 
meetings.  AX  the  meeting  on  June  21,  a  com- 
munication   was   received    from    Jacob    A.    Dresser, 

60 


474  SAD    OCCURRENCE    AT    THE    HOSPITAL. 

announcing  a  legacy  of  $2,000  to  the  Hospital, 
by  the  will  of  James  Ingersoll,  deceased.  Grate- 
ful acknowledgments  were  passed  for  this  bequest. 
The  Board,  at  its  meeting  on  Aug.  17,  elected 
George    G.   Tucker   Hospital    Apothecary. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Trustees  on  Nov.  21, 
action  was  taken  on  an  occasion  the  occurrence  of 
which  was  the  cause  of  painful  interest  within  the 
walls  of  the  Hospital  and  to  the  community  outside 
of  it.  At  the  meeting  of  the  Board  on  Nov.  7,  the 
case  of  James  Clancey,  who  had  died  on  that  day 
in  the  Hospital,  had  been  referred  for  full  investi- 
gation and  report  to  a  special  Committee.  The 
report,  which  was  submitted  at  a  meeting  on  Nov. 
10,  and  then  laid  upon  the  table  for  future  con- 
sideration, was  acted  upon  at  a  meeting  on  Nov.  15, 
and,  after  being  amended,  was  unanimously  accepted, 
and  ordered  to  be  recorded  at  this  meeting,  on  the 
21st.  It  appeared  from  the  report,  after  a  most 
thorough  investigation,  that  by  a  mistake  which  had 
occurred,  without,  however,  involving  any  culpable 
neglect  on  the  part  of  the  Hospital  Apothecary,  the 
Surgeons  accidentally  administered  chloroform  for 
the  usual  preparation  of  chloric  ether,  to  three  sub- 
jects of  operations.  The  third  of  these  patients, 
James  Clancey,  whose  arm  had  been  amputated, 
after  the  use  of  the  anaesthetic,  sunk  into  a  state  of 


RESIGNATION    OF    DR.    J.    C.   WARREN.  475 

insensibility,  from  which  he  was  recovered  only  to 
die  in  a  few  hours  afterwards ;  and  also,  that  when 
he  was  apparently  in  a  dying  condition,  one  of  the 
Surgeons  "  accidentally  poured  into  his  mouth  a 
quantity  of  undiluted  caustic  ammonia." 

The  Committee  considered  the  circumstances  as 
disclosed  to  be  of  a  very  serious  character.  After  a 
very  full  discussion,  the  Board,  "  having  good  reason 
to  believe  that  every  precaution  will  be  taken  to  pre- 
vent such  deplorable  accidents  in  future,"  voted,  "  That 
no  further  action  be  had  in  the  premises."  Also 
voted,  "  That  this  event  is  a  solemn  warning  to  all 
persons  connected  with  the  Hospital  to  exercise  the 
greatest  care  in  the  performance  of  the  delicate  and 
difficult  duties  which  devolve  upon  them." 

At  the  meeting  on  Dec.  5,  Messrs.  Bigelow  and 
Lawrence  were  appointed  a  Committee  to  examine 
the  Treasurer's  accounts,  and  to  prepare  the  annual 
report. 

At  the  meeting  on  Jan.  2,  1853,  Messrs.  Dexter 
and  Lowell  gave  notice  that  they  should  decline  a 
re-election  as  Trustees. 

The  Trustees  received  at  their  meeting  on  Jan.  19, 
1853,  the  following  letter  of  that  date  from  Dr.  John 
C.  Warren :  — 

"  Gentlemen,  —  For  some  years  I  have  contemplated 
resioninor  the  office  of  Surgeon  in  the  Massachusetts  General 


476  TRIBUTE    TO    DR.    J.    C.    WARREN. 

Hospital.  The  desire  of  transmitting  to  others  the  results  of 
my  experience  has  hitherto  prevented  the  execution  of  this 
design.  Having  accomplished  the  proposed  object  as  well 
as  I  could,  I  would  now  request  that  my  name  be  not  in- 
cluded among  the  candidates  at  your  next  election  ;  desiring 
you  at  the  same  time  to  accept  my  thanks  for  the  confidence 
which  you  have  so  long  extended  to  me.  And  I  would 
further  ask  leave  to  add  that,  in  the  performance  of  my 
professional  duties,  that  to  the  Hospital  has  ever  stood  para- 
mount in  my  mind  to 'all  others." 

The  preamble  and  vote  which  were  thereupon 
passed  by  the  Trustees  must  be  copied  here,  alike 
on  the  score  of  their  historical  as  of  their  personal 
character :  — 

"More  than  forty  years  ago  Dr.  Warren,  and  his  associ- 
ate. Dr.  James  Jackson,  by  an  admirable  circular  letter,  first 
called  the  attention  of  the  public  to  the  necessity  of  a  Hospi- 
tal. Becoming?  thus  one  of  our  orio-inal  founders,  he  was 
appointed  our  first  Surgeon,  and  has  been  annually  re- 
elected to  that  office  ever  since. 

"  His  name  has  become  illustrious  in  the  annals  of  Ameri- 
can Surgery,  and  reflects  honor  on  the  Institution  which  is 
so  deeply  indebted  to  him  for  its  establishment  and  success. 
Finding  here  those  opportunities  of  professional  practice  by 
which  his  own  skill  and  experience  were  from  year  to  year 
increased,  he  has,  in  return,  devoted  to  the  gratuitous  per- 
formance of  his  official  duties  among  us  much  time  and 
thought  during  a  long  life.  By  pecuniary  donations  and 
otherwise,  he  has  manifested  a  continued  interest  in  the  wel- 
fare of  the  Hospital.  And  now  that,  having  completed  his 
labors,  he  is  about  to  retire  from  this  honorable  and  respon- 


ORGANIZATION    FOR    1853.  477 

sible  situation,  the  Trustees  would  assure  liim  of  their  best 
wishes  for  his  future  health  and  happiness.  And  they  would 
congratulate  the  Institution  and  himself  on  the  circumstance 
that  he  leaves  behind  him  in  our  service,  and,  as  we  hope, 
for  many  years  to  come,  a  son  whose  high  professional  skill 
and  attainments  are  universally  recognized  as  worthy  of  his 
parentage. 

"  Voted,  That  Dr.  "Warren  be  requested  to  sit  for  his 
bust  or  portrait,  to  be  preserved  at  the  Hospital,  and  that 
Messrs.  Lowell  and  Dexter  be  a  Committee  to  communicate 
to  him  this  wish  of  the  Trustees." 

The  report  and  documents  for  the  year  being 
received  were  ordered  to  be  laid  before  the  Corpo- 
ration at  the  coming  annual  meeting. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Board  on  Feb.  6,  1853,  after 
the  annual  meeting  of  the  Corporation  held  on  that 
day,  it  appeared  that  the  same  officers  of  the  Hospital 
had  been  elected  as  in  the  last  year  on  the  part  of  the 
Corporation  and  of  the  Board  of  Visitors  ;  except  that, 
on  the  part  of  the  former,  Messrs.  Dexter  and  Lowell 
having  declined  further  service,  Messrs.  Henry  B. 
Rogers  and  Charles  H.  Warren  were  chosen  in  their 
places.  All  the  members  of  the  Board  were  present, 
and  Mr.  N.  I.  Bowditch  was  re-elected  Chairman. 
It  was  voted  so  to  amend  a  rule  both  of  the  Hospital 
and  the  Asylum  that  the  Board  of  Consultation  should 
henceforward  consist  of  three,  instead  of  two,  Phy- 
sicians and  Surgeons. 


478  REPORT   FOR   1852. 

Drs.  J.  Jackson,  Jeffries,  Shattuck,  Reynolds,  Hay- 
ward,  and  J.  C.  Warren,  were  by  ballot  elected  a 
Board  of  Consultation ;  Drs.  Bigelow,  Storer,  J.  B. 
S.  Jackson,  Bowditch,  Shattuck,  jun.,  and  Perry, 
Visiting  Physicians  ;  Drs.  Townsend,  J.  Mason  War- 
ren, Parkman,  H.  J.  Bigelow,  Clarke,  and  Cabot,  Visit- 
ing Sugeons ;  Dr.  John  Bacon,  jun..  Chemist  and 
Microscopist ;  Dr.  S.  L.  Abbot,  Admitting  Physician ; 
E,.  Girdler,  Superintendent  of  the  Hospital ;  Dr.  Bell 
Physician  and  Superintendent,  and  Columbus  Tyler 
Steward,  and  ]\Irs.  Mary  E.  Tyler  Matron,  of  the 
Asylum.  The  Standing  Committees  were  appointed, 
and  the  Visiting  Committees  were  arranged  for  the 
year. 

It  was  ordered  that  two  thousand  copies  of  the 
report  be  printed.  The  portion  of  it  coming  from 
the  Committee  covers  seven  pages.  The  property  of 
the  Institution,  exclusive  of  reversions,  grounds,  and 
buildings,  is  set  at  $197,257,  and  the  income  at 
$23,727.  Acknowledgment  is  made  of  the  bequest 
of  the  late  James  Ingersoll,  of  Boston,  of  |2,000. 
The  number  of  patients  admitted  to  the  Hospital 
had  been  826.  The  expenses  had  been  $30,173, 
of  which  $5,359  had  been  repaid  by  paying  patients. 
The  weekly  expense  of  each  patient  had  been 
$4.54.  The  necessity  of  a  foul  ward  is  again  men- 
tioned.    Reference    of  a  very    earnest    character   is 


DR.    bell's    report    FOR    1852.  479 

made  to  the  sad  case  already  related,  of  the  death 
of  a  patient,  caused  apparently  by  mistake  in  the 
administration  of  appliances,  which  was  "  the  subject 
of  public  comment  and  inquiry."  The  retirement 
of  Dr.   J.   C.  Warren  is   noticed. 

Dr.  Bell  reports    the    number  of  patients  in  the 
Asylum,  in  the  course  of  the  year,  as  336  ;  remain- 
ing, 201.     He  is  again  obliged  to  speak  of  the  over- 
demand   upon   the   accommodations   of   the  Asylum, 
involving   the   rejection  of  as  many  patients  as  had 
been   received,  with   the   pain   of  constantly  turning 
back  from  the  doors  anxious,  exhausted,  and  hopeful 
friends,  who  had  brought  their  charges  trusting  for 
relief.     The    other    New    England   Asylums,   pubhc 
and    private,   he    says,   are    filled,  while    insanity   is 
probably  an  augmenting  form  of  disease.     The  pro- 
portion of  incurable  cases  under  his  charge  naturally 
increases    from    tlie    kind    care    they  receive,   when, 
from   year   to    year,   they  are   the    residuum   of  the 
whole  number.    Dr.  Bell  reiterates  his  protest  against 
any  refuges   for   the   insane,  save  those  over  which 
the   community  legally,  or  by  a  Board    of    Visitors, 
exercises    control.     Philanthropy,  by   generous    gifts 
and  bequests,  must  henceforward,  as  heretofore,  pro- 
vide what  the  public  cannot  be  expected  to  furnish 
for  those   having  means   of   their   own.     Even   after 
the  Appleton   wards,   which    are   in    progress,  shall 


480  DR.    bell's    report   for    1852. 

be  completed,  the  fair  extent  of  accommodations, 
looking  at  the  highest  order  of  arrangements,  will 
not  admit  of  more  than  160  patients,  though,  by  the 
use  of  attics  and  corners,  210  have  been  within  the 
walls.  Dr.  Bell  found  seventy  patients  when  he  came 
to  his  charge,  so  that  the  number  had  trebled. 
Considering  it  a  settled  point  that  this  is  as  large 
a  number  as  ought  to  be  under  one  supervision 
and  in  one  institution,  he  proceeds,  at  some  length, 
to  suggest  a  plan  of  expansion  and  relief.  He  recom- 
mends the  establishment,  in  another  place,  near  to 
Boston,  of  a  duplicate  institution  for  the  insane, 
under  the  patronage  and  management  of  the  same 
Corporation,  either  for  patients  of  both  sexes,  or,  as 
he  should  advise,  for  female  patients  exclusively, 
—  that  at  Somerville  being  retained  for  male  patients. 
He  argues  that,  depending  upon  the  generosity, 
munificence,  and  philanthropy,  which  had  hereto- 
fore so  lavishly  sustained  the  objects  of  the  Corpora- 
tion, they  might  expect  the  means  to  be  furnished 
them  for  the  first  establishment  of  such  a  duplicate 
institution.  Afterwards,  he  thinks,  it  would  be  self- 
supporting  ;  the  richer  class  of  patients  covering 
much  of  the  expense  of  maintenance  beyond  the 
actual  cost  for  them,  and  the  experience  of  the 
past  being  availed  of  to  make  all  the  outlays  for 
the    new    constructions    much    less    than    had    been 


RESIGNATION    OF    MR.    GOODHUE.  481 

spent  upon  the  alterations,  adaptations,  extensions, 
and  patchings  up  of  the  buildings  at  Somerville. 
Of  course,  Dr.  Bell  offered  these  suggestions  with 
the  allowance  that  they  were  of  such  a  nature,  and 
involved  so  many  serious  conditions,  that  the  Trus- 
tees could  not  be  expected  at  present  to  do  more 
than  give   them  a  hearing. 

At  the  same  meeting  of  the  Board,  the  Chairman 
was  "  requested  to  collect,  if  possible,  a  complete  set 
of  the  reports  and  other  documents  of  the  Hospital, 
and  to  have  them  bound  and  placed  in  the  library." 
Mr.  Bowditch  had  already  earnestly  devoted  his 
researches  to  that  object;  and  the  Trustees  com- 
mitted the  matter  to  one  most  willing  and  competent 
to  effect  it. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Board,  Feb.  20,  a  letter 
was  received  from  Homer  Goodhue,  resigning  the 
office  of  male  Supervisor  at  the  Asylum.  In  ac- 
cepting his  resignation,  the  Trustees  instructed  the 
Visiting  Committee  to  express  "  their  regret  at 
parting  with  one  who  had  so  long  and  faithfully 
performed  the  responsible  duties  of  his  office,  and 
to  request  his  acceptance  of  a  gold  watch,  with 
a  suitable  inscription  upon  its  case,  as  a  testimonial 
of  their  appreciation  of  his  services." 

THe  Trustees,  at  their  meeting  on  March  6,  sanc- 
tioned   an    arrangement    made    by    Dr.   Perry    with 

61 


482  REGULATION    FOR    HOUSE    PUPILS. 

his  associates,  for  the  performance  of  his  duties 
during  his  proposed  visit  to  Europe.  A  change  was 
made  in  the  term  of  service  of  the  House  Officers, 
so  that  henceforward  they  should  enter  upon  their 
duties   on   the   first  day  of  May  of  each  year. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Board,  on  March  20,  at 
the  nomination  of  Dr.  Bell,  George  C.  Lincoln  was 
elected  male  Supervisor,  and  Miss  Relief  E,.  Barber 
female  Supervisor,  of  the  Asylum,  —  the  salary  of 
the  former  being  fixed  at  $500.  The  Visiting  Com- 
mittee were  authorized  to  procure  a  new  operating 
chair  for  the  Hospital.  The  Chairman,  Mr.  Bow- 
ditch,  received  the  thanks  of  the  Board  for  the 
bound  volumes  of  reports  and  other  Hospital  docu- 
ments, which  he  presented  at  this  meeting. 

On  May  22,  the  Trustees,  at  their  meeting,  acted 
on  the  report  of  a  Committee,  to  whom  had  been 
referred  the  consideration  of  a  proposed  change  in 
the  regulation  concerning  House  Pupils.  It  was 
then  voted  that  but  one  of  them  each,  in  the  Medical 
and  Surgical  Departments  of  the  Hospital,  should 
reside  within  the  walls,  and  live  in  the  family  of 
the  Superintendent,  —  neither  of  them  more  than 
six  months  in .  any  one  year,  nor  less  than  three 
months  consecutively.  One  of  the  House  Pupils 
Avas   to   be  within   the  walls   at  all   times. 

After  the   business  of  the  Board,  at  its   meeting 


INDEXES    TO    HOSPITAL    RECORDS.  483 

on  July  15,  had  been  done,  the  Chairman  proposed 
the  following  preamble  and  vote,  which  were  unani- 
mously adopted :  — 

"  The  funeral  of  the  late  Hon.  Samuel  Appleton  takes 
place  this  afternoon,  and  the  bells  of  the  city  are  now  tolling 
as  a  public  expression  of  respect  for  one  of  its  worthiest  sons 
and  its  noblest  benefactors,  who,  at  the  advanced  age  of 
eighty-seven  years,  has  died  universally  beloved  and  regretted. 
Formerly  a  Trustee  of  this  institution,  and  always  cherishing 
a  lively  interest  in  its  welfare,  we  are  happy  to  acknowledge 
our  indebtedness  to  him,  alike  for  his  valuable  personal  ser- 
vices, and  for  a  large  share  of  that  bounty  which  he  has 
always   so  wisely  and   so   liberally  bestowed. 

"  This  Board  would  present  to  the  widow  of  the  deceased, 
by  whose  affectionate  attentions  and  devoted  care  his  life 
has  been  for  so  many  years  prolonged  and  rendered  happy, 
the  assurances  of  their  profound  sympathy,  now  that  she  has 
lost  a  companion  and  friend  by  whom  she  was  ever  most 
tenderly  beloved.  Voted,  That  this  Boai'd  do  now  adjourn 
to  attend  the  funeral  of  the  deceased." 

An  Analytical  Index  of  the  Surgical  Records  of  the 
Hospital,  made  by  Dr.  Samuel  Kneeland,  jun.,  had 
been  laid  before  this  meeting,  for  which  thanks 
and  compensation  were  voted,  with  a  request  to 
Dr.  Kneeland  to   continue   the   Index. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Board,  Nov.  20,  1853,  a 
letter  was  received  from  Dr.  S.  L.  Abbot,  accompany- 
ing the  Index  of  the  Medical  Records,  made  up  by 
him  to  vol.  186,  inclusive,  for  which  compensation 
was  voted. 


484  ORGANIZATION    FOR    1854. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Trustees  on  Dec.  4,  Messrs. 
Warren  and  Dale  were  appointed  a  Committee  to 
examine  the  Treasurer's  accounts,  and  to  prepare 
the  annual  report.  At  their  meeting  on  Dec.  18, 
the  Trustees  authorized  Dr.  Bell  to  employ  an  ad- 
ditional Assistant  Physician  at  the  Asylum,  at  a 
salary  not  exceeding  that  paid  to   Dr.  Booth. 

The  annual  meeting  of  the  Corporation  was  held 
at  the  Hospital  on  Jan.  25,  1854.  The  first  sub- 
sequent meeting  of  the  Trustees  was  held  on  Feb.  5. 
It  then  appeared  that  the  officers  of  the  last  year 
had  been  re-elected,  except  that,  in  place  of  Mr. 
A.  A.  Lawrence,  Mr.  Robert  M.  Mason  had  been 
chosen  a  Trustee  on  the  part  of  the  Corporation. 
Mr.  Bowditch  was  re-elected  Chairman  for  the 
ensuing  year.  The  same  members  of  the  Board  of 
Consultation,  the  same  Visiting  Physicians  and 
Surgeons,  Chemist  and  Microscopist,  Admitting 
Physician,  Superintendent  of  the  Hospital,  Physi- 
cian and  Superintendent,  and  Steward  and  Matron 
of  the  Asylum,  were  re-elected,  as  had  already 
proved  their  ability  and  fidelity  in  previous  service. 
The  Standing  Committees  were  appointed,  and  the 
Visiting  Committees  were  arranged  for  the  year.  It 
was  voted  that  two  thousand  copies  of  the  annual 
report  be  printed.  From  this  report  it  appeared 
that    the    income    of   the    Corporation   for    the    last 


REPORT    FOR    1853.  485 

year  had  been  $21,672.48  ;  the  pecuniary  property 
of  the  institution  being  $182,212.88.  There  had 
been  admitted  into  the  Hospital  925  patients.  The 
average  weekly  expense  of  each  patient  was  $4.87. 
The  expenses  of  the  Hospital  were  $32,615.30, 
of  which  sum  only  $5,562.27  were  paid  by  patients. 
Dr.  Samuel  Cabot,  jun.,  had  been  elected  a  Visit- 
ing- Surgeon  on  the  resignation  of  Dr.  John  C. 
Warren.  The  Hospital  is  pronounced  to  be  in  good 
condition,  as  regards  economy  and  discipline ;  and 
the  officers  are  spoken  of  with  high  approval. 

Dr.  Bell  reported  that  114  new  patients  had  been 
received  into  the  Asylum,  195  remaining  at  the  end 
of  the  year.  This  was  also  the  average  number  of 
patients  within  the  walls,  being  more  than  was  con- 
sistent with  the  best  care  and  comfort  of  the  inmates. 
The  pressure  on  the  Asylum  had  been  such  that  it 
was  probable  that  three  times  as  many  applicants  had 
been  refused  as  had  been  accepted.  Dr.  Bell  is 
obliged  to  remonstrate  with  his  professional  brethren 
for  not  ascertaining  in  each  case,  before  sending  a 
patient  thither,  whether  there  is  a  chance  of  accom- 
modation. The  responsibility  thrown  upon  him  has 
been  very  painful,  either  of  incommoding  and  injuring 
all  those  wdthin  the  walls,  or  of  sending  away  an 
applicant  in  a  state  of  prostration  and  danger.  He 
reports  most  of  the  rooms  in  the  new  Appleton  ward 


486  THE    BIGELOW    OPERATING    CHAIR. 

for  males  as  occupied,  and  congratulates  the  Trustees 
on  this  provision  of  luxurious  apartments  for  such  as 
have  been  used  to  like  privileges,  —  by  a  method,  too, 
which  so  directly  reduces  the  charges  for  support  and 
oversight  to  the  less  favored  in  pecuniary  resources. 
He  renews  his  suggestion,  founded  on  present  and 
prospective  needs,  for  the  provision  of  another  Asy- 
lum to  be  devoted  to  female  patients.  The  Committee 
in  the  annual  report  look  favorably  on  this  sugges- 
tion, but  do  not  feel  able  to  promote  it. 

The  Chairman  in  a  letter  to  the  Board  communi- 
cated memoranda,  which  he  had  made  and  gathered 
in  preparing  matter  for  the  tablets  under  the  portraits, 
—  of  the  dates  of  the  birth  and  death  of  the  bene- 
factors of  the  Hospital.  These  memoranda  are  en- 
tered upon  the  records. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Board  on  Feb.  19,  the  Visit- 
ing Committee  presented  a  surgical  operating  chair 
invented  by  Dr.  Henry  J.  Bigelow,  and  constructed 
under  his  supervision ;  and  it  was  voted,  "  That  in 
consideration  of  the  excellence  of  the  chair,  and  the 
ingenuity  displayed  by  Dr.  Bigelow  in  its  construc- 
tion, it  be  called  '  The  Bigelow  Operating  Chair,'  in 
honor  of  the  inventor." 

The  Trustees,  at  their  meeting  on  March  19,  re- 
ceived a  communication  from  the  executors  of  the 
late    Judah    Touro,  of   New  Orleans,   announcing    a 


DEATH    OF    DR.    SHATTUCK.  487 

legacy  in  his  will  of  $10,000  to  the  Hospital ;  where- 
upon the  following  preamble  and  votes  were  unani- 
mously adopted :  — 

"  Moi'e  than  thirty  years  ago  tliere  died  in  this  city  one, 
of  Jewish  faith  and  parentage,  who  bequeathed  to  this 
institution  the  sum  of  $10,000.  The  name  of  Touro  has 
thenceforth  been  famiHar  to  us  as  that  of  one  of  our  chief 
benefactors.  And  now  another  of  the  same  name  and  Hne- 
age,  an  eminent  merchant,  who  for  fifty  years  has  resided 
in  the  distant  city  of  New  Orleans,  has,  by  like  liberal  be- 
quests, remembered  the  home  of  his  own  youth  and  its 
various  charitable  institutions  which  were  the  objects  of  his 
brother's  bounty  :  therefore  — 

"  Voted,  That  the  Trustees,  in  accepting  the  legacy  of 
the  late  Judah  Touro,  recognize  in  it  an  act  prompted  by 
fraternal  love  and  a  philanthropy  not  confined  within  the 
nai'row  bounds  of  time,  place,  or  sect." 

Another  vote  authorized  the  Treasurer  to  receive 
and  make  discharge  for  this  generous  legacy. 

The  death  of  Dr.  George  C.  Shattuck,  for  many 
years  one  of  the  Consulting  Physicians  of  the  insti- 
tution, having  been  announced  by  Dr.  Dale,  it  was  — 

"  Voted,  That  the  Board  have  received  the  intelligence  of 
the  decease  of  Dr.  Shattuck  with  deep  regret.  Tliut  they 
remember  with  grateful  satisfaction  his  lonsr  and  useful  con- 
nection  with  the  institution  as  one  of  the  Board  of  Consul- 
tation. That  in  common  Avith  the  citizens  of  Boston  they 
deplore  his  loss  as  one  who  through  a  long  and  eminent 
career  In  his  profession   was   distinguished  for  acts   of  dis- 


488  CHANGES    OF    OFFICERS. 

interested  benevolence  to  the  poor,  making  liis  memory  dear 
to  this  community.  That  his  munificent  donations  to  the 
cause  of  learning  and  science  entitle  him  to  the  distinction  of 
a  public  benefactor  ;  and  that  in  honor  of  his  memory  a  record 
of  these  proceedings  be  made  and  transmitted  to  the  family 
of  the  deceased." 

x\fter  the  subject  had  frequently  been  before  the 
Board  at  its  meetings,  a  Committee  to  whom  it  had 
been  referred  reported  at  this  meeting  in  favor  of 
erecting  a  building  for  patients  suffering  under  offen- 
sive diseases,  near  the  north-west  corner  of  the 
Hospital  grounds,  at  a  cost  of  about  $10,000.  A 
remonstrance  against  said  location  from  those  residing 
near  the  Hospital  was  read ;  and  it  was  voted  that 
Messrs.  Bullard,  Rogers,  and  Wigglesworth  be  a 
Building  Committee  to  erect  a  building  according  to 
the  report  of  the  said  Committee. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Trustees  on  April  22,  Dr. 
John  Homans  was  elected  a  Consulting  Physician,  in 
place  of  Dr.  George  C.  Shattuck,  deceased.  Dr.  Bell 
reported,  at  a  meeting  of  the  Board  on  July  18,  that  he 
had  engaged  Dr.  Mark  Ranney  of  the  Butler  Asylum 
as  additional  Assistant  Physician.  The  salary  for  this 
new  officer  was  fixed,  at  the  meeting  of  the  Trustees 
on  Oct.  18,  at  |600. 

The  Physicians  and  Surgeons  offered  a  communi- 
cation to  the    Board    at    their    meeting  on    Nov.    5, 


PATHOLOGICAL    MUSEUM.  489 

recommending  the  establishment  of  a  Pathological 
Museum  at  the  Hospital,  and  the  Visiting  Committee 
were  instructed  to  report  upon  the  subject.  The 
Treasurer  was  authorized  to  execute,  acknowledge, 
and  deliver  a  legal  instrument  covenanting  with  the 
Boston  and  Lowell  Railroad  Corporation  to  establish 
no  claim  on  the  score  of  the  privilege  —  which,  by 
courtesy,  had  been  granted  the  Hospital  —  of  laying 
a  gas-pipe  from  Boston  across  the  track  of  said 
railroad  to  the  Asylum  ;  and  agreeing  at  any  time, 
when  so  requested,  to  remove  the  pipe  at  the  charge 
of  the  Hospital.  The  Visiting  Committee  reported 
at  the  meeting,  Nov.  19,  that  it  was  expedient  to 
establish  a  Pathological  Museum  at  the  Hospital. 
Whereupon  it  was  "voted  that,  the  report  be  ac- 
cepted, and  that  the  subject  be  referred  back  to  the 
Committee  to  report  a  system  of  rules  for  the  man- 
agement of  the  Museum,  and  to  nominate  a  suitable 
person  as  Curator." 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Board  on  Dec.  3,  the  follow- 
ing communication,  from  the  trustees  under  the  will 
of  the  late  Samuel  Appleton,  was  read,  dated  Boston, 
Nov.  18,  1854:  — 

"  As  trustees  under  the  will  of  the  late  Samuel  Appleton, 
and  in  accordance  with  what  we  believe  would  have  been 
his  wish,  we  have  transferred  to  the  Massachusetts  Genei'al 
Hospital   the   following    stocks,  appraised    according  to  the 

62 


490  RULE    FOR    FREE    BEDS. 

inventory  of  his  estate,  as  nearly  as  may  be,  at  the  sum 
of  ten  thousand  doHars  ;  viz.,  five  shares  in  the  Amoskeag 
Manufacturing  Company,  one  share  in  the  Stark  Mills,  two 
shares  In  the  Merrimack  Manufacturing  Company,  and  one 
share  in  the  Appleton  Manufacturing  Company.  This  dona- 
tion is  made  in  trust  to  constitute  a  fund  the  income  of  v^hich 
shall  be  applied  to  the  relief  of  poor,  curable  patients  at  the 
M'Lean  Asylum  for  the  Insane.  In  other  words,  it  is  to 
be  added  to  the  existing  '  Appleton  Fund '  of  that  depart- 
ment of  the  Institution." 

Signed  by  N.  Appleton,  Wm.  Appleton,  and  N.  I. 
Bowditch.     It  was  then  — 

"  Voted,  That  the  donation  be  accepted  upon  the  terms 
mentioned  in  the  said  communication,  and  that  the  Secre- 
tary be  directed  to  return  the  thanks  of  this  Board  to  the 
trustees  under  the  will  of  the  late  Samuel  Appleton." 

Mr.  J.  B.  Bradlee  having  sent  to  the  Treasurer 
$1,000,  for  the  purpose  of  procuring  a  life  free  bed, 
it  was  — 

*^  Voted,  That  art.  1,  chap.  8,  of  the  Rules  and  Regu- 
lations of  the  Hospital  be  so  amended  as  to  read  as  follows  : 
'All  subscriptions  for  free  beds  shall  date  from  Jan.  1, 
in  each  year,  and  any  individual  subscribing  $100  shall  be 
entitled  to  a  free  bed  at  the  Hospital  during  that  year ;  and 
on  payment  of  $1,000,  or  of  such  a  sum  as  the  applicant 
would  be  required  to  pay  for  an  annuity  of  $100  on  the  prin- 
ciples of  life  insurance,  he  shall  be  entitled  to  a  free  bed  for 
life.'" 


DEATH    OF    DR.    S.    TARKMAN.  491 

Messrs.  Mason  and  Rogers  were  appointed  a  Com- 
mittee to  examine  the  Treasurer's  accounts  and  pre- 
pare the  annual  report.  A  report  from  the  Visiting 
Committee  on  a  Pathological  Cabinet  was  accepted, 
with  its  recommendations,  which  were  as  follows  : 
that  $100  be  appropriated  for  commencing  such  a 
Cabinet ;  that  a  Curator  for  it  should  be  chosen 
annually  by  the  Trustees  ;  that  it  should  be  his  duty 
to  preserve  morbid  specimens  and  arrange  them  in 
the  way  best  fitted  to  make  them  useful ;  and  that  he 
should  make  all  the  autopsies  excepting  such  as  shall 
be  made  by  the  attending  Physicians  and  Surgeons, 
and  shall  observe  all  the  regulations  now  in  force  or 
that  may  be  made  respecting  them.  Upon  the  nomi- 
nation of  the  same  Committee,  the  Board  then  elected 
Dr.  Calvin  Ellis  Curator  of  the  Pathological  Cabinet. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Board  on  Dec.  31,  the  death 
of  Dr.  Samuel  Parkman  having  been  announced,  it 
was  — 

"  Voted,  That  this  Board  have  heard  with  deep  regret  of 
the  decease  of  Dr.  Samuel  Parkman,  one  of  the  Surgeons 
of  the  Hospital.  Appointed  to  this  high  trust  at  the  time  of 
the  enlargement  of  our  building  in  1846,  he  has,  by  pro- 
fessional skill  and  ability  of  the  very  highest  order,  reflected 
honor  on  the  institution,  while  by  his  agreeable  manners  and 
amiable  disposition  he  has  won  the  sincere  and  universal 
re":ard  of  the  officers  and  inmates.  And  now  that  his  life 
of  usefulness  and  virtue  has  been  suddenly  closed  by  severe 


492  INTERNAL    DISCIPLINE    OF    THE    HOSPITAL. 

disease  while  he  was  in  the  strength  of  manhood  and  in  the 
full  maturity  of  his  powers,  the  Trustees  deem  it  proper  to 
place  upon  record  an  expression  of  their  profound  sense  of 
the  loss  which  they  and  our  whole  community  have  sustained 
by  this  bereavement." 

The  following  votes  of  the  Trustees,  passed  at  this 
meeting,  may  be  inserted  here,  as  manifesting  the 
pains  taken  to  perfect  the  internal  discipline  of  the 
Hospital :  — 

"  Voted,  That  the  Superintendent  and  House  Officers  be 
directed  to  see  that  the  nurses  of  the  Hospital  are  in  their 
several  wards  each  morning,  ready  for  duty,  before  the  night- 
watchers  leave  the  ward-rooms  for  the  day,  in  order  that  there 
may  be  no  period  of  time  when  the  patients  shall  be  without 
attendants,  and  to  report  all  cases  of  remissness  to  the  Visit- 
in  2;  Committee." 

"  Voted,  That  the  Physicians,  Surgeons,  and  otlier  offi- 
cers of  the  Hospital,  be  particularly  requested  to  take  notice 
of  every  thing  which  occurs  within  the  building  that,  in 
their  judgment,  is  detrimental  to  the  health  or  comfort  of 
the  patients,  inconsistent  with  the  rules  and  regulations,  or 
adverse  in  any  way  to  the  best  interests  of  the  establish- 
ment, and  report  the  same  to  the  Visiting  Committee." 

The  Secretary  was  instructed  to  communicate  these 
votes  to  all  the  officers,  and  the  Superintendent  was 
directed  to  impart  them  to  the  nurses  and  other  at- 
tendants of  the  Hospital.  Dr.  George  H.  Gay  was 
elected  a  Visiting  Surgeon,  in  the  place  of  Ur.  Samuel 
Parkman. 


ORGANIZATION    FOR   1855.  493 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Corporation,  Feb.  4, 
1855,  all  the  officers  of  the  preceding  year  were  re- 
elected, except  that  on  the  part  of  the  Common- 
wealth Mr.  Henry  M.  Holbrook  was  chosen  a  Trustee, 
in  place  of  Mr.  John  P.  Bigelow.  At  the  subsequent 
meeting  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  Mr.  N.  I.  Bow- 
ditch  Avas  chosen  Chairman.  With  the  exception  of 
Dr.  John  Homans,  in  place  of  Dr.  G.  C.  Shattuck, 
deceased,  on  the  Board  of  Consultation,  and  of  Dr. 
G.  H.  Gay,  in  the  place  of  Dr.  Samuel  Parkman, 
deceased,  as  one  of  the  Visiting  Surgeons,  those 
Boards,  and  also  that  of  the  Visiting  Physicians, 
remained  as  in  the  last  year.  Dr.  J.  Bacon,  jun.,  was 
elected  Chemist  and  Microscopist ;  Dr.  Calvin  Ellis, 
Curator  of  the  Pathological  Cabinet ;  Dr.  Samuel  L. 
Abbot  Admitting  Physician,  Richard  Girdler  Super- 
intendent, of  the  Hospital ;  and  Dr.  Luther  V.  Bell, 
Physician  and  Superintendent  of  the  Asylum  ;  Colum- 
bus Tyler  Steward,  and  Mrs.  Mary  E.  Tyler  Matron, 
of  the  same.  The  Standing  Committees  were  chosen, 
and  the  Visiting  Committees  were  arranged  for  the 
ensuing  year. 

The  Committee  were  authorized  to  print  two  thou- 
sand copies  of  the  annual  report.  In  this  report  the 
property  of  the  Corporation  from  which  income  is 
derived  is  set  at  $206,042.02.  The  whole  income  of 
it  for  the  year  had  been  $25,291.40.    There  had  been 


494  REPORT    FOR    1854. 

admitted  to  the  Hospital  922  patients :  the  whole 
number  under  medical  advice  or  treatment  had  been 
1,041.  The  expenses  of  the  Hospital  had  been 
$40,654.78,  of  which  patients  had  paid  $6,128.49. 
The  average  weekly  expense  of  each  had  been 
$5.46.  The  internal  condition  of  the  Hospital  was 
highly  satisfactory,  the  Superintendent  and  all  the 
officers  having  faithfully  performed  their  duties.  The 
successful  establishment  of  a  Pathological  Cabinet  is 
remarked  upon.  In  view  of  preventing  any  serious 
encroachment  on  the  funds,  the  Committee  think  that 
an  effort  should  be  made  to  reduce  the  number  of 
patients  supported  wholly  at  the  expense  of  the 
Hospital.  The  urgent  need  that  had  long  been  felt 
of  a  separate  ward  for  cases  of  a  foul  and  dangerous 
nature,  to  relieve  and  secure  other  patients  from  dis- 
comfort and  risk,  had  during  the  year  been  supplied. 
At  the  cost  of  $12,000,  including  that  for  a  neces- 
sary sea-wall,  a  commodious  building  of  two  stories, 
west  of  the  main  edifice,  had  been  erected,  contain- 
ing sixteen  rooms,  with  every  needful  convenience. 
Mr.  Judah  Touro's  generous  bequest  recalls  the 
remembrance  of  the  like  munificence  of  his  brother, 
Abraham.  Renewed  gratitude  is  expressed  to  the 
trustees  of  the  late  Samuel  Appleton,  a  former  Trus- 
tee and  Vice-President,  for  directing,  in  the  exercise 
of  the  discretion  left  to  them,  so  generous  an  appor- 


THANKS    TO    J.    P.    BIGELOW.  495 

tionment  of  his  estate  to  this  institution.  Attention 
is  called  to  the  dilapidated  state  of  the  fence,  and  the 
opportunity  for  embellishing  and  improving  by  walks, 
shrubbery,  flowers,  and  culture,  the  extensive  grounds 
of  the  Hospital,  reaching  as  they  do  to  low-water 
mark.  Heartfelt  tributes  are  rendered  to  the  memory 
and  devoted  services  of  Drs.  Parkman  and  Shattuck. 
From  some  statistical  facts  embodied  in  a  table,  it 
appeared  that  during  the  last  seventeen  years 
$295,074  had  been  gratuitously  expended  by  the 
Hospital,  and  that  there  had  been  received  into  it 
in  twenty  years  nearly  twelve  thousand  patients. 

The  expenses  of  the  Asylum  for  the  year  had  been 
$46,724.31  ;  the  receipts  for  the  board  of  patients 
being  $53,821.43.  Dr.  Bell  makes  a  very  brief 
report,  having  so  fully  in  previous  years  treated  the 
general  subjects  of  his  experience.  He  had  received 
during  the  year  120  patients  ;  had  had  under  his  care 
315,  of  whom  195  remained.  He  again  bears  testi- 
mony to  the  fidelity  and  earnest  co-operation  of  all 
the  subordinates  of  the  Asylum. 

The  Board  at  its  meeting  on  Feb.  18,  taking 
notice  of  the  fact  that  Mr.  J.  P.  Bigelow  had  not 
been  re-elected  as  a  Trustee  on  the  part  of  the 
Commonwealth,  voted   to   him  their  thanks  — 

"  For  die  faithful  performance  of  those  duties  for  which  he 
was  so  well  qualified  by  his  general  intelligence  and  by  his 


496  RESIGNATION    OF    DR.    J.    BIGELOW. 

experience  acquired  in  other  high  public  trusts  ;  and  that 
while  he  has  gained  the  good-will  of  the  patients  by  the 
interest  he  uniformly  manifested  in  their  behalf,  his  amiable 
disposition  and  pleasant  manners  have  always  been  highly 
appreciated  by  his  late  colleagues,  the  members  of  this  Board." 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Trustees  on  March  18,  the 
Visiting  Committee  reported  on  a  communication 
received  from  Dr.  Bacon,  and  referred  to  them,  that 
the  duties  of  a  Microscopist  more  appropriately 
belong  to  the  office  of  Curator  of  the  Pathological 
Cabinet,  and  advised  that  hereafter  the  said  duties 
should  be  performed  by  that  officer  instead  of  by  Dr. 
Bacon,  who  shall  remain  Chemist.  The  report  was 
accepted.  The  Visiting  Committee  also  received  full 
power  to  engage  the  services  of  Mr.  Hermogen  S. 
Balcom,  as  x\pothecary,  in  place  of  Mr.  Tucker, 
resigned. 

The  salary  of  the  male  Supervisor  of  the  Asylum 
was  raised  to  six  hundred  dollars  by  the  Board 
of  Trustees,  at  their  meeting  on  April  18. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Board  on  Aug.  7,  a  com- 
munication was  received  from  Dr.  Jacob  Bigelow, 
resigning  his  office  of  Visiting  Physician,  on  which 
it  was  — 

''Voted,  That  the  resignation  be  accepted,  and  that  a 
Committee  be  appointed  lo  report  resolutions  expressive  of 
the  sense  this  Board  entertains  of  the  valuable  services  of 
Dr.  Biijelow." 


TRIBUTE    TO    DR.    BIGELOW.  497 

Messrs.  Dale,  E-ogers,  and  Stevenson  were  ap- 
pointed such  Committee.  Dr.  Augustus  A.  Gould 
was,  by  ballot,  chosen  to  fill  the  vacancy  as  a 
Visiting  Physician. 

The  report  of  the  Committee  on  the  resignation 
of  Dr.  Bigelow,  made  at  the  meeting  on  Aug.  15, 
was  as  follows  :  — 

"  That  Dr.  Bigelow  was  elected  as  one  of  the  Consulting 
Physicians  of  this  Hospital  in  1827  ;  that  he  has  been 
immediately  connected  with  the  institution  since  that  date ; 
that  he  has  brought  to  its  service  great  skill,  a  large  experi- 
ence, deep  knowledge,  and  an  unusual  degree  of  good  judg- 
ment ;  that  his  services,  invaluable  as  they  are  known  to  have 
been,  and  occupying  much  of  his  time,  as  they  are  known  to 
have  done,  have  been  requited  only  by  the  consciousness  on 
his  part  of  devotion  to  humane  duties,  and  by  the  respect 
and  affection  of  those  who  have  known  how  faithfully  those 
duties  have  been  performed.  And  the  Committee  recom- 
mend that  he  be  requested  by  the  Trustees  to  permit  his  bust 
or  portrait  to  be  taken  by  a  competent  artist,  to  be  preserved 
in  the  Hospital." 

In  accepting  this  report,  the  Board  authorized 
and  instructed  the  same  Committee  to  take  the 
necessary  steps  for  carrying  their  recommendation 
into   effect. 

On  Sept.  15,  a  Committee,  to  Avhom  had  been 
referred  the  converting  of  the  Lecture  and  Recep- 
tion Room  in  the  Hospital  into  rooms  for  patients, 
reported   to    the    Board   that   they  had    attended  to 

63 


498  RESIGNATION    OF    DR.    BELL. 

that  duty,  and  that,  through  the  changes  they  had 
made,  the  number  of  beds  for  patients  had  been 
increased  by  twenty-three,  at  an  expense,  including 
the  furniture,  of  $3,009.45.  The  new  wards  thus 
formed  were  appropriated  to  male  patients. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Board  on  Oct.  12,  Mr. 
George  T.  Lyman,  as  executor  of  the  will  of  the 
late  Miss  Elizabeth  Pratt,  communicated  to  the 
Trustees  that  she  had  left  ten  thousand  dollars 
for  the  use  and  benefit  of  the  Hospital  in  Bos- 
ton, and  the  same  sum  for  the  use  and  benefit  of 
the  Asylum  at  Somerville.  The  Treasurer  was  au- 
thorized to  receive  and  receipt  for  these  legacies, 
and  was  instructed  to  enter  them  in  his  books  to 
the  credit  of  each  department.  A  special  Com- 
mittee was  empowered  to  contract  for  a  new  fence 
around  the  grounds  of  the  Hospital,  at  an  expense 
not  exceeding  $5,500. 

At  the  regular  quarterly  meeting  of  the  Board, 
held  at  the  Asylum  on  Oct.  17,  a  communication 
having  been  received  from  Dr.  Bell  resigning  his 
office  at   the   close   of   the  year,  it  was  — 

"  Voted,  That  it  be  referred  to  a  Committee  consisting  of 
Messrs.  Stevenson,  Lamb,  Warren,  and  Bullard,  to  express 
to  Dr.  Bell  the  deep  regret  which  the  Board  feels,  and  to 
confer  with  him  upon  the  general  state  of  the  institution." 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Board  on  Dec.  16,  Messrs. 


ORGANIZATION    FOR    1856.  499 

Wiggleswortli  and  Shaw  were  appointed  a  Com- 
mittee to  examine  the  Treasurer's  accounts,  and  to 
prepare  the  annual  report.  Satisfactory  arrange- 
ments had  been  made  during  the  year  with  the 
Eitchburg  Raih'oad  Company,  for  land  of  the  Cor- 
poration taken  by  them  to  widen  their  track.  At 
the  meeting  on  Jan.  11,  Mr.  N.  I.  Bowditch  declined, 
by  letter,  a  re-election  as  Trustee,  as  did  also  Mr. 
G.  H.  Shaw,  at  the  meeting  of  the  Board  on 
Jan.  23. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Corporation,  on 
Jan.  23,  1856,  but  few  changes  were  made  in  the 
Board.  Messrs.  William  Appleton,  Henry  Andrews, 
and  Marcus  Morton,  jun.,  were  respectively  re-elected 
as  President,  Treasurer,  and  Secretary.  Mr.  N.  I. 
Bowditch  was  chosen  Vice-President,  in  place  of  Mr. 
Robert  Hooper.  The  Trustees  on  the  part  of  the 
Commonwealth  were  the  same  as  last  year ;  and 
on  the  part  of  the  Corporation  they  were  Messrs. 
James  B.  Bradlee,  W.  W.  Greenough,  Robert 
M.  Mason,  Charles  H.  Mills,  H.  B.  Rogers,  J.  T. 
Stevenson,  Charles  H.  Warren,  and  Edward  Wig- 
gles worth. 

At  the  first  meeting  of  the  Trustees,  on  Eeb.  3, 
after  this  organization,  Mr.  Henry  B.  Rogers  was 
elected  Chairman.  The  same  six  Physicians  and 
Surgeons   as  last  year  were  re-chosen  as  the  Board 


500  REPORT    FOR    1855. 

of  Consultation.  On  the  Board  of  Visiting  Physi- 
cians, Dr.  A.  A.  Gould  took  the  place  of  Dr.  Jacob 
Bigelovv ;  that  of  Visiting  Surgeons  was  the  same. 
Dr.  John  Bacon,  jun.,  was  re-elected  Chemist;  Dr. 
Calvin  Ellis,  Curator  of  the  Pathological  Cabinet ; 
Dr.  S.  L.  Abbot  Admitting  Physician,  and  E,.  Gird- 
ler  Superintendent,  of  the  Hospital.  The  choice 
of  Physician  and  Superintendent  of  the  Asylum  was 
postponed ;  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Tyler  being  re-appointed 
Steward  and  Matron.  The  Standing  Committees 
were  designated,  and  the  Visiting  Committees  ar- 
ranged for  the  year.  It  was  provided  that  two 
thousand  copies  of  the  annual  report  be  printed. 
This  report  estimates  the  amount  of  the  property  of 
the  Corporation  yielding  income  to  be  $173,179.27, 
that  income  having  been  for  the  last  year  $45,525, 
of  which  $18,000  had  been  an  extra  dividend  from 
the  Massachusetts  Hospital  Life  Insurance  Com- 
pany. There  had  been  admitted  into  the  Hospital 
915  patients,  of  which  414  were  wholly  free,  and  147 
more  paid  for  board  only  a  part  of  the  time.  The 
average  length  of  time  of  the  stay  of  free  patients, 
which  in  1853  had  been  seven  weeks,  had  grown, 
in  1855,  to  eleven  weeks  and  four  days.  The  Com- 
mittee think  the  causes  of  this  increase  should  be 
investigated.  The  whole  expense  of  conducting  the 
Hospital    for    the    year   was    $43,252.51,    of   which 


REPORT    FOR    1855.  501 

$8,889.17  was  repaid  by  the  patients.  The  average 
weekly  expense  of  each  was  $5.64.  The  rate  of 
board  had  been  slightly  raised,  and  there  had  been  an 
mcrease  in  the  number  of  paying  patients.  The  new 
wards,  constructed  during  the  year,  had  proved  very 
satisfactory ;  and  thanks  are  regarded  as  due  to  Mr. 
H.  B.  Rogers  for  his  superintendence  of  the  changes. 
During  the  year,  280  out-door  medical  and  356 
out-door  surgical  patients  had  been  prescribed  and 
cared  for.  The  munificent  bequest  of  Miss  Pratt 
is  noticed.  The  resignation  of  Dr.  Jacob  Bigelow 
calls  forth  a  renewed  tribute  to  his  abilities,  services, 
and  virtues;  while  the  Committee  say,  "No  panegyric 
of  ours  could  add  to  the  esteem  which  he  has 
won  by  a  long  course  of  honorable  labor."  Ex- 
traordinary outlays  at  the  Asylum  for  gas-fixtures, 
bowling-alleys,  billiard-tables,  and  piano-fortes,  had 
increased  the  expenses,  there  to  $60,867.26,  while 
the  receipts  had  been  |57, 115.38.  The  cost  of  each 
patient  a  week  was  |5.50.  There  had  been  ad- 
mitted 318  patients  :  of  these,  192  remained. 

Dr.  Bell,  having  tendered  his  resignation,  as  be- 
fore noticed,  to  take  effect  at  this  time,  offers  in  his 
report  some  general  and  some  personal  suggestions. 
He  refers  to  the  accessories  gathered  at  the  institu- 
tion by  the  liberality  of  friends  and  the  co-operation 
of  the  Trustees,  to  secure  there  a  well-ordered  and  a 


502  DR.  bell's  administration. 

well-furnished  home,  in  order  to  keep  up  the  char- 
acter of  the  establishment  in  its  provisions  for  the 
comfort,  interest,  and  restoration  of  the  inmates. 
The  erection  of  a  beautiful,  well-warmed  bowling- 
alley,  the  fitting  up  of  two  new  billiard-tables,  and 
the  purchase  of  three  new  pianos  for  the  female 
side,  and  the  provision  of  a  third  billiard-table  for 
the  male  side,  have  added  to  the  means  of  health- 
ful amusement.  The  introduction  of  gas,  and  of 
Cochituate  water,  and  the  improved  ventilating  ap- 
paratus, have  added  largely  to  the  comfort  of  the 
inmates.  The  first  attempt  in  this  country  to  warm 
institutions  for  the  insane,  by  the  medium  of  steam 
or  hot  water,  had  been  successfully  made  here.  It 
has  secured  an  almost  fixity  of  heat,  and  at  a 
moderate  outlay.  The  partitions  under  the  dome 
of  the  male  wing  having  been  removed,  a  spacious 
and  beautiful  apartment  had  been  secured  as  a  dor- 
mitory for  ten  or  twelve  persons.  The  farm- buildings 
had  been  largely  added  to.  The  two  noble  edifices 
for  the  Appleton  wards  had  been  occupied,  and  had 
proved  of  eminent  advantage. 

Dr.  Bell  then  refers  to  his  own  withdrawal  as  a 
candidate  for  re-election.  With  a  clinging  of  heart 
to  the  place  and  scenes  of  such  devoted  service  as  he 
has  rendered,  he  says  that  he  has  made  his  — 

"  Arrangements  to  retii-e  to  a  spot  not  far  distant  where 


DR.  bell's  valedictory.  503 

I  shall  have  the  happiness  of  opening  my  eyes  each  morning 
on  this  blessed  institution,  and  feeling  that  my  own  happi- 
ness will  be  intimately  connected  with  witnessing  its  con- 
tinued prosperity.  I  hope  hereafter  to  be  no  stranger  within 
its  walls  ;  hence  I  feel  that  no  melancholy  valedictory  is  re- 
quired or  would  be  in  keeping  with  the  occasion  of  my  hand- 
ing over  this  charge  to  another.  I  will  only  say  that,  as  far 
as  I  know,  I  leave  this  asylum  prosperous  in  its  own  affairs, 
and  amply  possessed  of  the  confidence  of  the  community.  I 
leave  it  with  a  heart  grateful  to  that  Superintending  Prov- 
idence which  shielded  me  for  so  many  years  from  those 
bereavements  and  that  ill-health  which  have  of  late  over- 
whelmed me,  so  that  I  have  been  enabled  to  do  something 
for  those  placed  under  my  care,  as  well  as  for  the  general 
cause  of  the  insane  over  our  country.  Grateful  for  the  uni- 
form support,  the  indulgent  forbearance,  the  kind  sympathy 
in  my  many  trials,  of  the  members  of  your  Board,  present  and 
past;  grateful  to  the  medical  profession,  whose  cheerful  and 
ready  confidence  and  uniform  courtesy  are  and  ever  will  be 
very  dear  to  my  memory  ;  grateful  to  a  community  which  has, 
in  the  various  attacks  to  which  this  and  all  such  institutions 
are  ever  liable  from  the  mistaken,  the  ungratified,  and  the 
malignant,  sprung  promptly  to  our  relief,  rendering  expla- 
nations and  defences  superfluous  ;  grateful  to  a  long  line  of 
recovered  patients,  of  both  sexes,  whose  kindly  recognition 
of  our  efforts  has  inspired  new  activity  and  made  labors 
pleasant,  however  in  themselves  anxious  and  exhausting ; 
and,  lastly,  grateful  to  those  associated  with  me  in  various 
capacities  —  most  of  them  for  many  years,  and  some  during 
my  entire  service  —  in  the  discharge  of  our  holy  functions  ;  — 
I  can  mark  the  day  of  my  leaving  these  walls,  with  a  'white 
stone,'  and  enter  again  the  world  without  one  feeling  other 
than  that  of  kindness  and  irood-will  to  all  mankind." 


504  REVIEW    OF    TWENTY    YEARS. 

Dr.  Bell  was  elected  Superintendent  of  the  Asylum 
in  December,  1836.  Having  thus  given  nineteen  years 
to  its  service,  he  refers  to  the  fact  that  he  had  made 
no  application  for  the  office,  and  had  not  known  even 
that  he  was  thought  of  for  it,  being  a  stranger  to 
every  member  of  the  Board  and  almost  to  the  Com- 
monwealth. Yet  he  trusts  that  the  years  have  not 
passed  for  him  without  adding  something  to  the  com- 
mon stock  of  knowledge  of  the  treatment,  moral  and 
medical,  of  insanity.  The  Institution,  almost  the 
earliest  of  the  curative  hospitals  of  the  land,  had 
freely  shared  its  experience  with  the  successive  insti- 
tutions which  had  since  been  established  from  Maine 
to  California.  "  Christianity,"  he  says,  "  can  hardly 
show  a  mightier  triumph  than  the  fact  that  the  num- 
ber of  hospitals  for  the  insane  in  the  United  States 
has  increased  from  half-a-dozen  to  between  forty  and 
fifty."  Each  of  the  four  larger  British  Provinces  ad- 
joining us  has  provided  its  large  and  well-furnished 
Institution,  substantially  on  this  model.  Experience 
has  led  to  a  discriminating  as  well  as  an  improved  use 
of  means  of  moral  treatment  trusted  in  for  the  care  of 
the  insane.  Some  fancied  schemes  have  been  aban- 
doned, as  has  much  reliance  upon  mechanical  and 
agricultural  labor,  because  of  a  change  in  the  class 
of  patients.  For  several  years  there  was  a  disuse  of 
all  the  forms  of  muscular  restraint,  but  the  experi- 


EXPERIMENTS    IF    THE    ASYLUM.  505 

ment,  very  much  vaunted,  proved  that  no  such  exclu- 
sive system  was,  here  at  least,  compatible  with  the 
true  interests  of  all  patients.  A  trial  also  was  made 
of  allowing  very  many  patients  to  go  abroad  on 
parole.  No  accident  occurred,  and  the  pledge  vas 
rarely  broken.  But  the  patients  were  invariably 
found  to  be  made  by  it  less  contented,  and  the  con- 
clusion was  forced  upon  the  officers  "  that  almost 
every  patient  who  was  so  far  disordered  in  mind  as 
to  justify  detention  at  all,  was  too  much  disordered 
for  even  a  qualified  liberty."  The  experiment  of  per- 
mitting the  intermingling  of  the  sexes  in  daily  relig- 
ious exercises  and  in  occasions  of  festivity,  though 
under  the  close  supervision  of  officers  and  attend- 
ants, was  thoroughly  tested  for  several  years,  but  its 
inconveniences  long  ago  led  to  its  abandonment. 
The  interdiction  of  the  visits  and  correspondence  of 
friends,  in  so  many  cases,  has  always  proved  to  be 
one  of  the  severest  trials  of  those  in  charge  of  such 
institutions,  as  well  as  one  of  the  grounds  of  the  dis- 
trust, impatience,  and  censorious  criticism  of  outside 
observers.  But  the  indispensable  necessity  of  this 
restriction,  as  it  was  one  of  the  earliest  of  the  recorded 
facts  of  medical  observation,  so  has  it  been  confirmed 
in  every  day's  experience  of  every  asylum.  On  no 
point  is  the  head  of  such  an  institution  more  tempted 
to  yield  or  evade  his  convictions  of  duty  than  on  this, 

64 


506  DR.  bell's  experience. 

pressed  as  he  is  by  the  solicitations,  the  importunities, 
and  the  teasings  of  those  most  interested  in  his 
patients,  and  subjected  to  the  false  reasonings,  the 
caprices,  and  the  murmurs  of  those  influenced  by  only 
one  set  of  their  feelings,  while  jeopardizing  the 
recovery  of  the  sufi'erers  who  engage  them.  Dr. 
Bell  expresses  himself  with  earnestness  and  decision 
on  this  point ;  for  he  had  had  sore  trials  of  his  fidel- 
ity to  a  course  on  which  his  full  experience  and  his 
intelligent  and  conscientious  observation  had  given 
him  fixed  convictions.  He  was  glad  to  have  the  love 
of  those  under  his  charge  and  of  their  friends,  but  he 
would  not  win  that  love  by  acting,  as  does  a  so-called 
indulgent  physician,  who  allows  his  patient  to  have 
his  own  way  as  to  diet  and  regimen.  The  friends  of 
patients,  however  nature  may  sway  them,  should 
respect  such  convictions  as  these,  and  of  such  a  man. 
Having  devoted  so  much  of  his  life  to  this  specialty, 
he  leaves  it  as  his  one  full  counsel  to  any  one  who 
may  be  called  to  like  trust  "  to  stand  firm  to  his  con- 
victions on  this  greatest  item  of  moral  treatment." 
It  is  to  be  remembered,  too,  that  this  system  of  restric- 
tion of  correspondence  and  visits  is  not  a  general  rule 
applied  to  all  patients,  but  only  to  those  who  are 
probably  recoverable. 

The   whole  number   of  patients  admitted  into  the 
Asylum   up   to  this   time  had  been  4,006  ;  Dr.    Bell 


DR.  bell's  administration.  507 

having  had  the  care  of  2,696  of  them.  The  Com- 
mittee in  their  report  refer  with  much  feeling  to  the 
services  of  Dr.  Bell,  and  pay  a  most  deserved  tribute 
to  his  abilities  and  virtues.  The  number  of  patients 
had  nearly  trebled  under  his  administration,  and  the 
Institution  had  gained  a  high  and  wide-spread  repu- 
tation.    The  Committee  declare,  — 

"  It  is  unnecessary  for  us  to  say  how  much  the  Trustees 
regret  to  lose  his  services.  His  skill  and  kindness  and  care, 
his  activity,  decision,  and  fertility  of  resources,  have  been 
conspicuous  in  his  management  of  the  patients  ;  his  quick  per- 
ception and  uniform  courtesy  have  given  him  that  influence 
over  their  friends  which  is  one  of  the  first  requisites  for  the 
successful  treatment  of  the  insane  ;  while  his  weight  of  charac- 
ter has  won  the  confidence  of  the  community,  and  preserved 
the  Asylum  in  a  great  measure  from  that  suspicion  and 
obloquy  to  which  such  institutions  are  pecuharly  exposed." 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Mr.  Bowditch  has 
quoted,  on  a  previous  page,  the  explicit  condition  on 
which  Dr.  Bell,  then  a  stranger  to  the  Board,  was 
put  in  charge  of  his  responsible  trust.  It  was  that  he 
should  pledge  himself  to  "  pursue  the  course  of  moral 
and  religious  treatment  of  patients  adopted  by  Dr. 
Lee."  The  occasion  of  his  death,  six  years  after  this 
date,  while  giving  his  professional  services  to  his 
country  in  her  patriotic  army,  will  call  for  a  subse- 
quent reference  to  him  in  these  pages.  But,  in  con- 
nection with  the  close  of  his  devoted  labors  at  the 


508  VOTE    OF    THE    CORPORATION. 

Asylum,  it  is  but  proper  to  recognize  here  how  he  had 
so  faithfully  fulfilled  his  first  pledge,  not  only  in  its 
terms,  but  in  self-consecration  to  a  most  arduous 
work.  In  the  touching  farewell  words  which  have 
just  been  copied  from  his  report,  it  will  be  observed 
that  he  described  the  offices  which  he  shared  with 
his  subordinates  at  the  Asylum  as  "  holy  functions." 
No  simpler,  no  more  fitting  terms  could  be  chosen 
for  defining  his  own  devout,  reverential,  and  lofty 
estimate  of  the  nature  of  his  duties,  and  of  the  charac- 
ter and  spirit  required  in  himself  for  their  discharge. 
His  tenderness,  sympathy,  refinement,  and  spirituality, 
his  perfect  self-command,  his  patience  and  earnest- 
ness, were  combined  with  a  vast  intellectual  power  and 
with  talents  of  philosophical  and  scientific  breadth 
and  vigor  which  are  rarely  bestowed  on  one  man, 
and  if  possessed  would  be  more  rarely  given  and 
concentrated  as  they  were  by  him  on  such  an  unin- 
viting and  limited  sphere  of  service. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Corporation,  held 
Jan.  23,  1856,  it  was, — 

"  Voted,  That  the  Corporation  have  heard  with  deep  regret 
of  the  resignation  of  Dr.  Luther  V.  Bell,  the  Physician  and 
Superintendent  of  the  M'Lean  Asykim  for  the  Insane  ;  and, 
in  parting  with  him,  they  desire  to  record  their  grateful 
recognition  of  the  profound  knowledge,  devoted  zeal,  and 
remarkable  sagacity  with  which  he  has  performed  the  delicate 
and  responsible  duties  of  the  office  he  has  so  long  honored." 


509 


CHAPTEE    XIV. 

March  16,  1856,  to  Feb.  5,  1862. 

Routine  Business  at  the  Meetings  of  the  Trustees.  —  New  Fence 
AT  THE  Hospital.  —  Dr.  C.  Booth  elected  Superintendent  of  the 
Asylum,  and  Dr.  J.  C.  Smith  an  Assistant  Physician.  —  Resignation 
OF  Dr.  Perry.  —  Notice  of  the  Death  of  Dr.  J.  C.  Warren.  —  Pro- 
posal for  a  Sea- Wall  on  the  Hospital  Bounds.  — Bequest  of  Wil- 
liam Read.  —  Important  Votes  concerning  the  Asylum.  —  Annual 
Meeting. —  Organization  for  1857.  —  Report  for  1856.  —  Illness 
of  Dr.  Booth.  —  Contribution  to  Dr.  Morton.  —  Dr  L.  M.  Sar- 
gent, JUN.,  chosen  Artist  of  the  Hospital.  —  Gift  from  Dr.  J.  M. 
Warren.  —  Death  of  Dr.  Booth.  —  Temporary  Service  of  Dr. 
Bell.  —  Annual  Meeting.  — Organization  for  1858.  —  Report  for 
1857.  —  Bequests  of  M.  P.  Sawyer  and  W.  Pickman.  —  Dr.  J.  E. 
Tyler,  Superintendent  of  the  Asylum.  —  Bequest  of  Dr.  J.  G. 
Treadwell.  —  Office  of  Resident  Physician  at  the  Hospital. — 
Resignation  of  Superintendent  Girdler,  and  of  the  Secretary. 

—  Malignant  Fever  at  the  Hospital.  —  Donation  from  Executors 
of  Thomas  Dowse.  —  T.  B.  Hall  chosen  Secretary.  —  Dr.  B.  S. 
Shaw  chosen  Resident  Physician,  and  Dr.  S.  L.  Abbot,  Physician 
to  Out-Patients,  at  the  Hospital.  —  Application  of  a  Female 
Student.  —  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gallison  chosen  Steward  and  Matron 
of  the  Hospital.  —  Thanks  to  Capt.  Girdler.  —  Tribute  to  Dr. 
Stoker.  —  Dr.  F.  Minot  chosen  a  Visiting  Physician.  —  Bequest 
OP  Mrs.  a.  Austin.  —  Establishment  of  the  Treadwell  Library. 

—  Estate  of  M.  P.  Sawyer.  —  Filling  of  Flats.  —  Annual  Meet- 
ing.—  Organization  for  1859.  —  Report  for  1858.  —  Resignation 
of  the  Treasurer,  and  Election  of  Mr.  Stevenson.  —  More  Land 
AT  THE  Asylum.  —  Bequests  of  George  Hills  and  of  Mrs.  S.  B. 
Thompson.  —  Annual  Meeting.  —  Organization  for  1860.  —  Report 
FOR  1859.  —  Dr.  Tyler's  Report.  —  Important  Votes.  —  Bequest  of 
Jonathan  Phillips.  —  Reduction  of  Expenses.  —  Annual  Meeting. 

—  Organization  for  1861.  —  Report  for  1860. — New  Cottage  at 
the  Asylum.  —  Death  of  Mr.  Bowditch. —  Sketch  of  his  Life  and 
Character.  —  His  Work  on  Suffolk  Surnames.  —  The  Civil  War. 

—  Preparations  to  receive  Diseased  and  Wounded  Soldiers. — 


510 


ROUTINE    BUSINESS. 


A  New  Form  of  Bond  for  Patients  at  the  Asylum.  —  Absence  of 
THE  Chairman.  —  Bounds  of  the  Hospital  Grounds.  —  Donation 
BY  Mr.  W.  Appleton. 


In  deriving  the  substance  of  the  matter  for  the  pages 
of  this  History  from  the  records  of  the  Trustees 
and  from  the  annual  reports  made  to  the  Corpora- 
tion, many  details  of  business  and  of  discipline  are 
necessarily  omitted,  as  either  trivial  in  the  retrospect, 
or  of  mere  routine,  or  such  as  are  naturally  to  be 
inferred  in  the  management  and  oversight  of  such  a 
trust.  The  Trustees  at  their  very  frequent  and  never 
intermitted  meetings,  held  once  in  a  fortnight,  inform 
themselves  upon  all  the  facts  connected  with  the 
internal  working  and  discipline  of  both  the  institu- 
tions under  their  charge  ;  they  direct  the  repairs  and 
alterations  of  the  buildings,  and  their  furnishings  ; 
they  give  attention  to  all  proposals  for  change,  where 
change  promises  improvement ;  they  listen  to  reports 
from  the  Visiting  Committees  as  to  the  number,  con- 
dition, and  circumstances  of  the  patients  ;  they  are 
informed  as  to  the  investments  of  their  funds ;  they, 
fix  the  number  of  free  beds,  the  rates  of  board  and 
the  time,  extended  when  necessary  in  special  cases, 
during  which  invalids  or  convalescents  may  remain 
under  care,  and  they  elect  from  year  to  year  the  six 
House  Pupils,  with  the  aid  of  testimonials  offered  by 
applicants  and  of  recommendations  from  the  Surgical 


RESIGNATION    OF    DR.    PERRY.  511 

and  Medical  Boards.  At  regular  quarterly  meetings 
at  the  Hospital  and  Asylum,'  the  Finance  Committee 
examines  the  accounts  of  either  institution.  In  these 
pages  only  matters  apart  from  this  routine  are  brought 
to  notice. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Trustees  on  March  16,  1856, 
Mr.  G.  H.  Shaw,  for  the  Committee  on  a  new  fence 
around  the  Hospital  grounds,  reported  that  he  had 
procured  subscriptions  to  the  amount  of  f3,250  for 
that  object,  made  on  the  condition  that  enough  to 
cover  the  expense  should  yet  be  obtained.  It  was 
then  "  voted  that  the  Chairman  of  the  Board  be 
authorized  to  subscribe,  in  behalf  of  the  Trustees," 
the  needful  balance. 

Dr.  Chauncey  Booth  was,  by  ballot,  elected  Physi- 
cian and  Superintendent  of  the  M'Lean  Asylum.  A 
Committee  appointed  upon  the  subject  of  the  resig- 
nation of  Dr.  Bell  were  authorized  to  procure  a  bust 
or  portrait  of  him  to  be  placed  in  the  Asylum.  At 
the  meeting  on  April  16,  on  the  nomination  of  Dr. 
Booth,  Dr.  Jerome  C.  Smith  was  elected  additional 
Assistant  Physician  at  the  Asylum,  at  a  salary  of 
$600.  The  salary  of  Dr.  Ranney,  the  Assistant 
Physician,  was  fixed  at  $700. 

At  the  meeting  on  May  4,  a  letter  was  received 
from  Dr.  M.  S.  Perry,  resigning  his  office  as  one  of 
the  Visiting  Physicians.     Whereupon  it  was  — 


512        DEATH  OF  DR.  JOHN  C.  WARREN. 

"  Voted,  That  the  Trustees  accept  with  regret  the  resigna- 
tion of  Dr.  M.  S.  Perry.  His  professional  ability,  his  uni- 
form courtesy  to  his  colleagues,  his  kindness  to  the  patients, 
and  his  faithfulness  manifested  in  the  discharge  of  the  duties 
of  his  office,  entitle  him  to  the  grateful  remembrance  of  the 
Board." 

The  Secretary  was  instructed  to  communicate  this 
vote  to  Dr.  Perry. 

The  Chairman  announced  the  death  of  Dr.  John  C. 
Warren,  when  it  was  voted  that  the  Chairman  and 
Mr.  Wigglesworth  be  a  Committee  to  prepare  suit- 
able resolutions  expressive  of  the  sense  the  Trustees 
entertain  of  this  loss,  to  be  reported  at  the  next 
meeting,  which  was  held  on  May  5.  The  following 
votes  proposed  by  the  Committee  were  then  unani- 
mously adopted :  ^- 

^'Votedf  That  the  death  of  John  Collins  Warren,  though 
deferred  by  a  kind  Providence  until  the  labors  of  a  long  life 
had  come  to  a  natural  close,  is  an  event  that  cannot  be 
passed  over  by  the  Trustees  of  the  Massachusetts  General 
Hospital  without  a  tribute  of  respect  for  his  character,  and 
of  gratitude  for  the  services  which  he  has  rendered  to  this 
Institution  and  the  community  at  large. 

"  Voted,  That  Dr.  Warren,  in  conjunction  with  his  friend 
and  contemporary.  Dr.  James  Jackson,  who  still  lives  among 
us  honored  and  beloved,  was  mainly  instrumental  in  originat- 
ing the  General  Hospital  and  M'Lean  Asylum  by  issuing  in 
August,  1810,  a  circular  letter  to  the  public  on  the  need  of 
such  an  institution,  and  afterwards  rendered  valuable  service 
in  arranging  and  perfecting  its  organization.  That  for  nearly 
tliirty-six  years,  viz.,  from  April  fi,  1817,  to  Feb.  1853,  he 


ENOmmn BY ■m.Wr.LCH.  PHtL<'  mOMAmGnERREOnTESTJOJlNA.  imiPPLE.  BOSTON. 

.   /   iiijij    uMIV^ESITY  OF  CAMBRIDGE. 


DR.  C.  E.  WARE    CHOSEN    VISITING    PHYSICIAN.       513 

was  at  first  the  sole  and  subsequently  the  principal  acting 
Surgeon,  in  daily  attendance  upon  its  wards,  and  by  his 
eminent  talents,  knowledge,  and  practical  skill,  as  well  as  by 
his  fidelity,  energy,  and  untiring  devotion,  in  behalf  of  all 
the  interests  of  the  Institution,  largely  contributed  to  make 
it  what  it  now  is,  an  honor  to  the  city  and  to  the  Common- 
wealth. 

''Voted,  That  during  his  long  life  Dr.  Warren  spared 
neither  labor  nor  expense  in  the  pursuit  of  professional 
eminence  and  usefulness ;  maintained  his  position  in  the 
front  rank  of  the  surgeons  of  his  time  ;  did  much  by  personal 
effort  and  liberal  donations  to  promote  the  cause  of  natural 
science,  and  added  to  the  lustre  of  the  name  which  he 
inherited  from  a  distinguished  father,  and  transmits  to  a 
distinguished  son. 

"  Notwithstandinor  a  delicate  and  enfeebled  constitution, 
his  resolute  spirit  sustained  his  professional  activity  and 
interest  to  the  last,' and  he  found  his  reward  in  his  own  con- 
sciousness as  well  as  in  fortune  and  fame.  The  community 
in  which  he  lias  been  for  so  many  years  conspicuous  will 
long  hold  his  memory  in  honor. 

"  Voted,  That  the  Trustees  sympathize  with  the  family  of 
the  late  Dr.  Warren  in  their  bereavement,  and  in  token 
of  their  respect  for  his  memory  will  attend  the  funeral,  if 
agreeable  to  them. 

"  Voted,  That  the  Secretary  be  directed  to  enclose  a  copy 
of  these  votes  to  the  family  of  the  deceased." 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Trustees  on  May  18,  Mr. 
Charles  H.  Warren  communicated  to  the  Board  his 
resignation  as  a  member  of  it. 

Dr.  Charles  E.  Ware,  at  the  meeting  of  the  Board 
on  June  1 ,  was  chosen  Visiting  Physician,  in  the  place 

65 


514  J.    p.    BIGELOW,    TRUSTEE. 

of  Dr.  Perry,  resigned.  Mr.  John  Lowell  was,  on 
June  24,  elected  a  Trustee,  in  the  place  of  Mr.  C.  H. 
Warren,  resigned.  Proposed  changes  in  the  Pules 
and  Regulations,  reported  by  a  Committee,  were 
adopted  by  the  Board. 

The  proposed  extension  of  Charles  Street,  by  the 
city  authorities,  over  the  flats  belonging  to  this  Cor- 
poration, was  brought  to  a  renewed  notice  by  the 
Board,  on  Aug.  12,  through  a  letter  addressed  to  the 
Chairman,  from  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on 
Streets,  notifying  the  Board  that  that  Committee 
"  will  report  in  favor  of  building  a  substantial  sea- 
wall on  the  Commissioners'  Line,  in  consideration 
of  the  Hospital's  accepting  the  same,  in  liquidation 
of  any  and  all  damages  in  consequence  of  the  lay- 
ing out  by  the  city  of  Boston  a  street  over  the  flats 
belonging  to  the  Corporation,  provided  said  Corpora- 
tion will  give  permission  for  and  to  the  city  to  enter 
upon  their  flats  for  the  purpose  of  building  said 
wall."  An  early  answer  was  desired,  as  the  Commit- 
tee added  that,  in  case  the  off'er  was  declined,  they 
should  forthwith  make  a  contract  for  a  pile  bridge. 
The  Board  voted  that  it  was  not  expedient  to  accept 
the  proposition. 

On  Sept.  23,  by  election  of  the  Board  of  Visit- 
ors, the  Hon.  John  P.  Bigelow  again  became  a 
Trustee,  filling  the  vacancy  caused  by  the  resignation 
of  Mr.  Henry  M.  Holbrook. 


NIGHT-WATCH    AT   ASYLUM.  515 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Board  on  Oct.  10,  a  legacy 
of  12,000,  left  to  the  institution  by  the  will  of 
William  Read  of  Marblehead,  was  accepted  by  the 
Trustees,  on  the  conditions  set  forth  by  the  testator. 
Messrs.  Lowell  and  Bradlee  were  appointed,  on  Dec. 
14,  a  Committee  to  examine  the  Treasurer's  accounts, 
and  to  prepare  the  annual  report. 

The  following  very  important  votes  were  passed 
by  the  Trustees,  at  their  meeting  on  Jan.  21, 
1857:  — 

'^  Voted,  That  the  Physician  and  Superintendent  of  the 
M'Lean  Asylum  be  requested  to  communicate  by  letter  to 
the  Chairman  of  the  Trustees  the  death  of  any  patient  under 
his  charge,  as  soon  as  may  be  after  the  happening  of  the 
same,  together  with  all  the  important  facts  and  circumstances 
relating  thereto.  Also,  that  he  cause  all  occurrences  of  any 
importance,  which  transpire  within  the  Asylum,  to  be  re- 
ported to  him  by  all  persons  under  his  authority,  as  soon  as 
practicable  after  they  take  place." 

"  Voted,  That  he  cause  a  night-watch  to  be  organized  in 
both  the  male  and  female  wards,  which  shall  pass  thi'ough 
each  grallerv  as  often  as  once  in  each  half  hour  durinoj  each 
night,  from  ten  to  six  o'clock.  Also,  that  in  case  of  any  violent 
death,  he  cause  a  coroner  to  be  summoned.  Also,  that  at  no 
time,  excepting  during  the  night-watch,  shall  any  gallery,  in 
either  ward,  be  without  a  person  actually  present  there  as  an 
attendant ;  and  that  such  arrangements  be  made  as  shall 
effectually  carry  this  object  into  operation." 

The  annual  meeting  of  the  Corporation  was  held 
on  Jan.  28,  1857,  when   the   annual   report  of  the 


516  ORGANIZATION    FOR   1857. 

Committee,  with  accompanying  documents,  which 
had  been  accepted  by  the  Trustees,  were  laid  before 
it.  At  the  next  meeting  of  the  Trustees  on  Feb.  8, 
it  appeared  that  the  Corporation  had  elected  the 
following  officers  for  the  ensuing  year :  William 
Appleton,  President;  N.  I.  Bovvditch,  Vice-President ; 
Henry  Andrews,  Treasurer ;  Marcus  Morton,  jun., 
Secretary  ;  with  Messrs.  J.  B.  Bradlee,  W.  W.  Green- 
ough,  John  Lowell,  R.  M.  Mason,  C.  H.  Mills,  H.  B. 
Rogers,  J.  T.  Stevenson,  and  Edward  Wigglesworth, 
Trustees  on  the  part  of  the  Corporation ;  and  Messrs. 
J.  P.  Bigelow,  W.  S.  Bullard,  W.  J.  Dale,  and 
Thomas  Lamb,  Trustees  on  the  part  of  the  Com- 
monwealth. 

The  Board  elected  Mr.  Rogers  as  its  Chairman  for 
the  ensuing  year.  Drs.  James  Jackson,  John  Jeffries, 
Edward  Reynolds,  George  Hayward,  John  Homans, 
and  Winslow  Lewis,  were  chosen  as  the  Board  of 
Consultation;  Drs.  D.  H.  Storer,  J.  B.  S.  Jackson, 
H.  L  Bowditch,  G.  C.  Shattuck,  A.  A.  Gould,  and  C. 
E.  Ware,  the  Board  of  Visiting  Physicians ;  Drs.  S. 
D.  Townsend,  J.  M.  Warren,  H.  J.  Bigelow,  H.  G. 
Clark,  Samuel  Cabot,  jun.,  and  G.  H.  Gay,  the  Board 
of  Visiting  Surgeons.  Dr.  John  Bacon,  jun.,  was 
chosen  Chemist;  Dr.  Calvin  Ellis,  Microscopist  and 
Curator  of  the  Pathological  Cabinet ;  Dr.  Samuel  L. 
Abbot,  Admitting  Physician;    and   Richard   Girdler, 


REPORT    FOR    1856.  517 

Superintendent  of  the  Hospital ;  Dr.  Chauncey  Booth, 
Physician  and  Superintendent  of  the  M'Lean  Asylum ; 
and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Tyler,  as  Steward  and  Matron. 
The  Standing  Committees  were  appointed,  and  the 
Visiting  Committees  were  arranged  for  the  year. 

It  was  voted  that  two  thousand  copies  of  the  annual 
report  be  printed.  This  report  states  that  the  ex- 
penses of  the  institution  have  considerably  exceeded 
its  receipts  from  all  sources,  —  a  state  of  things  which 
calls  for  the  serious  consideration  of  its  Trustees 
and  friends.  The  income  has  been  $24,719.53  ;  the 
expenses  have  been  $40,986.77,  —  the  excess  being 
largely  accounted  for  by  repairs  and  permanent 
improvements,  especially  the  brick  and  iron  fence 
around  the  grounds  of  the  Hospital.  But  a  defi- 
ciency has  existed  for  many  years.  There  had  been 
976  patients  in  the  Hospital,  at  an  average  weekly 
expense  for  each  of  $5,492.  The  resignation  of  Dr. 
Perry  and  the  death  of  Dr.  Warren  are  noticed. 
The  receipt  of  legacies,  of  $2,000  from  the  Hon. 
William  Read  of  Marblehead,  and  of  $40,000  from 
the  late  John  Bromfield,  Esq.,  is  acknowledged.  At 
the  Asylum,  149  patients  had  been  admitted,  and 
196  remained  at  the  end  of  the  year.  The  average 
weekly  cost  for  each  patient  had  been  $6.11.  Dr. 
Chauncey  Booth,  having  for  thirteen  years  filled  with 
great   acceptance    the    post   of  Assistant  Physician, 


518  REPORT    OF   DR.    BOOTH. 

had  entered  upon  the  higher  position  left  vacant  by 
the    resignation   of  Dr.  Bell.     The  hope   and   confi- 
dence   of   the    Trustees    in    this    appointment   were 
saddened   and  thwarted  by  the   early  death   of  this 
excellent   and  accomplished  gentleman,  in  the  very 
vigor  of  his   years.     The  report  which  he  made  — 
and  Providence  disposed  that  it  should  be  his  only 
official  return  —  is    long,  elaborate,  and    full   of  in- 
terest.    It  proves  with  what  devotion  of  heart  and 
mind,   and  with  what  pains-taking  inquiries   of   ob- 
servation and  research,  he  had  given  himself  to  the 
specialty  of  his  profession.     He  reviews  the  working 
of  the  system  known  as  Moral  Treatment^  introduced 
into  the  institution  by  its  first  medical  director,  Dr. 
Wyman,  and  now  accepted  "  throughout  the  civilized 
world,"  — "  not  an  arbitrary,  but  a  progressive  sys- 
tem."    He    discusses    the    question    of   the    increase 
of  insanity,  with  a  cursory  examination  of  its  causes, 
in   the   manners  and  habits  of  the  people,  the  mode 
of  educating  the  young,  the  neglect  of  physical  train- 
ing, and  hereditary  transmission.     He  calls  attention 
to  the  jurisprudence  of  his  subject  and  the  need  of 
a  more  thorough  investigation  of  the  relations  between 
insanity    and    crime.      The    earnest    and    intelligent 
spirit  which  Dr.  Booth  thus   manifested    in    magni- 
.  fying  the  high  and  responsible  office  to  which  he  had 
given  his  youth  and  early  manhood  is  a  token  of  the 


GIFT    TO    DR.   W.    T.    G.    MORTON.  519 

work  which  he  would  have  effected  had  his  life  been 
prolonged.'  Before  the  close  of  the  year  he  was 
prostrated  in  a  decline,  from  which  he  was  not  to 
find  restoration. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Board  on  Feb.  22,  on  the 
nomination  of  Dr.  Booth,  the  Trustees  chose  Drs. 
Mark  Ranney  and  Jerome  C.  Smith  Assistant  Phy- 
sicians, and  George  C.  Lincoln  and  Miss  Relief 
R.  Barber  male  and  female  Supervisors,  of  the 
Asylum. 

At  this  meeting  action  was  taken  on  the  report 
of  a  Committee,  Messrs.  Stevenson  and  Lowell,  to 
whom,  at  a  previous  meeting,  had  been  referred 
a  proposition  that  the  Trustees,  in  behalf  of  the 
Hospital,  should  subscribe  $1,000  to  the  fund  then 
solicited  from  the  public  at  large  in  behalf  of  Dr. 
W.  T.  G.  Morton,  for  his  discovery  and  use  of  an 
anaesthetic.  The  Committee  remark  that  no  ordinary 
circumstance  would  justify  the  Trustees,  should  they 
apply  any  portion  of  the  funds  under  their  control  to 
any  object  other  than  the  direct  relief  of  the  sick 
under  their  care.  But  the  relations  between  Dr. 
Morton  and  the  Hospital,  in  regard  to  the  great  dis- 
covery which  prompts  the  proposed  memorial,  are 
peculiar.  "  He  is  known  to  have  been  chieiiy  instru- 
mental in  conferring  a  great  good  upon  his  race." 
He  has  received  no  pecuniary  compensation  for  his 


520  GIFT   TO    DR.  W.    T.    G.    MORTON. 

agency  in  a  discovery  of  so  beneficent  a  character,  but, 
on  the  contrary,  has  borne  many  sacrifices.  While  by 
justice  he  is  entitled  to  a  remuneration,  the  govern- 
ment of  the  country  having  omitted  to  provide  a 
proper  reward,  the  only  mode  in  which  it  seems 
probable  that  it  can  be  furnished  is  by  a  voluntary 
contribution.  As  to  the  question  whether  the  Trus- 
tees may  properly  give  any  thing  to  it  from  the 
funds  of  the  institution,  the  Committee  decide  in 
the  affirmative  on  the  following  grounds :  "  The  first 
important  surgical  operation  to  which  that  discovery 
was  applied  was  performed  within  its  walls,  at  his 
instance ; "  he  gave  the  Hospital  the  privilege  of  a 
free  use  of  his  discovery  at  a  time  when  he  expected 
pecuniary  advantage  from  it  from  other  quarters ;  the 
Hospital  has  continued  to  receive  benefit  from  it, 
which  no  reasonable  amount  of  money  could  compen- 
sate ;  the  refusal  of  a  subscription  by  the  Hospital 
might  with  reason  prevent  the  foundation  of  the 
fund ;  and  such  a  subscription  finds  precedents  in 
the  appropriations  which  the  Trustees  have  made 
in    procuring   memorials   of  their  benefactors. 

The  Committee  therefore  recommended  the  follow- 
ing vote,  which,  with  the  report,  was  unanimously 
approved  by  the  Trustees  :  — 

"  Voted,  That  the  Chairman  of  tiiis  Board  be  requested  to 
subscribe,  on  behalf  of  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital, 


ARTIST    OF   THE    HOSPITAL.  521 

one  thousand  dollars  towards  the  fund  which  it  is  proposed 
to  establish  for  the  benefit  of  Dr.  W.  T.  G.  Morton,  as  a 
memorial  of  the  great  service  which  that  gentleman  has 
rendered  to  science  and  humanity,  in  connection  with  the 
discovery  of  the  uses  of  ether." 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Trustees  on  March  8, 
Messrs.  Eogers  and  Stevenson  were  appointed  a 
Committee  to  procure  a  bust  or  portrait,  of  Dr. 
George   Hayward  for  the   Hospital. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Board  on  April  10,  the 
Trustees,  on  the  report  of  a  Committee  to  whom 
the  subject  had  been  referred,  — 

"  Voted,  That  the  Rules  and  Regulations  be  amended  so 
that  the  title  of  the  Admitting  Physician  shall  hereafter  be 
'Admitting  Physician  and  Physician  to  Out-Patients.'" 

The  same  Committee  recommended  the  establish- 
ment of  the  office  of  Artist  of  the  Hospital.  The 
Board   approving,  it  was  — 

"  Voted,  That  the  said  office  be  hereby  established,  and  the 
following  rules  and  regulations  be  adopted  :  — 

"'Artist   of  the    Hospital. 

"  '■  Art.  1.  He  shall,  under  the  direction  and  at  the  discretion  of 
the  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  make  accurate  drawings  of  such 
anomalous  and  rare  cases  of  disease  as  shall  be  useful  for  future 
reference  and  examination. 

"  '  Art.  2.  He  shall  be  present  and  assist  the  Physicians  and 
Surgeons  whenever  his    services  may  be   desirable. 

66 


522  APPLICATION    OF    A    FEMALE    PHYSICIAN. 

"'Art.  3.  All  copies  aud  drawings  shall  be  carefully  preserved 
in  a  portfolio  provided  for  the  purpose,  and  shall  be  placed  in  the 
Pathological  Cabinet,  under  the  care  of  the  Curator ;  and  they  shall 
not  be  taken  from  the  Hospital  without  the  consent  of  the  Visit- 
ing Committee.' " 

Upon  the  recommendation  of  the  same  Committee, 
Dr.  L.  M.  Sargent,  jun.,  was  then  elected  Artist  of 
the  Hospital. 

On  the  nomination  of  Dr.  Booth,  at  the  meeting 
Oct.  16,  the  Trustees  appointed  Mr.  Henry  H.  Ben- 
son male  Supervisor  of  the  Asylum  for  the  remainder 
of  the  year. 

xit  the  meeting  of  the  Board  on  Nov.  22,  a  dona- 
tion was  announced  from  Dr.  J.  Mason  Warren  of 
a  case  of  surgical  knives,  a  large  chair  to  be  used 
in  cases  of  lameness,  and  eighteen  volumes  of  the 
Edinburgh  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal.  The 
Secretary  was  instructed  to  return  the  thanks  of 
the  Board  to  Dr.  Warren  for  this  acceptable  and 
valuable  gift. 

An  application  having  been  received  at  the  meet- 
ing on  Nov.  8,  and  then  laid  on  the  table,  from 
Sarah  W.  Salisbury,  "  a  graduate  of  the  Female 
Medical  College,  to  be  admitted  to  the  Hospital 
for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  practical  knowledge 
in  some  of  the  branches  of  Medical  Science,"  — 
it  was  at  this  meeting  taken  from  the  table,  when 
it  was  — 


DEATH    OF    DR.    BOOTH.  523 

"  Voted,  That  the  Secretary  communicate  to  Miss  Salis- 
bury a  copy  of  the  rules  and  regulations  of  the  Hospital, 
and  inform  her  that  the  Trustees  deem  any  departure  from 
the  rules  and  regulations  to  be  inexpedient." 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Board  on  Dec.  20,  Messrs. 
Greenoiigh  and  Mason  were  appointed  a  Committee 
to  examine  the  Treasurer's  accounts,  and  to  prepare 
the  annual  report.  The  illness  of  Dr.  Booth  having 
disabled  him  from  the  performance  of  his  duties,  the 
Visiting  Committee  reported  that  they  had  engaged 
Dr.  Bell,  then  residing  in  Charlestown,  to  take  tem- 
porary charge  of  the  Asylum.  The  Board  approved 
of  this  action. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Trustees  on  Jan.  15,  the 
death  of  Dr.  Chauncey  Booth  was  announced,  where- 
upon it  was  — 

"  Voted,  That  this  Board  have  heard  with  much  sorrow  of 
the  death  of  Dr.  Chauncey  Booth,  late  Superintendent  of  the 
M'Lean  Asylum,  a  man  of  sterling  worth,  and  most  esteemed 
by  those  who  knew  him  best.  His  connection  with  the 
Asylum  has  been  long  and  useful  and  honorable.  He  was 
quiet  and  modest,  but  resolute  and  self-possessed.  He  sus- 
tained himself  well  amid  the  arduous  duties  of  his  office,  the 
"weakness  of  disease,  and  the  certainty  of  approaching  dissolu- 
tion. His  services,  both  as  Assistant  and  Principal  Physician 
of  the  Asylum,  have  been  highly  appreciated  by  the  Trus- 
tees, and  are  held  in  grateful  remembrance  by  hundreds  who 
have  experienced  his  skill  and  kindness  and  care.     He  lived 


524  ORGANIZATION    FOR    1858. 

■without  reproach,  and  died  with  the  cahnness  which  comes 
from  the  consciousness  of  duty  done. 

"  Voted,  That  in  token  of  our  respect  for  the  memory  of 
the  deceased  we  will  attend  his  funeral  at  the  Asylum  to- 
morrow. 

"  Voted,  That  a  copy  of  the  above  votes  be  sent  to  the 
family  of  Dr.  Booth." 

The  annual  meeting  of  the  Corporation  was  held 
at  the  Hospital,  on  Jan.  27,  1858,  when  the  annual 
reports  were  presented  and  acted  upon.  No  change 
was  made  in  the  officers  of  the  Corporation  from  last 
year,  except  that  Mr.  Abbott  Lawrence  was  elected 
a  Trustee  on  the  part  of  the  Commonwealth,  in  the 
place  of  Hon.  John  P.  Bigelow,  who  had  declined  a 
re-election.  The  Board  subsequently  voted  its  thanks 
to  Mr.  Bigelow  for  his  long  and  valuable  services. 

At  the  next  following  meeting  of  the  Trustees,  on 
Feb.  7, 1858,  Mr.  Rogers  was  again  elected  Chairman. 
The  Boards  of  Consultation  and  of  Visiting  Physicians 
and  Surgeons  remained  unchanged ;  and  the  same 
gentlemen  that  were  in  the  other  offices  of  the  Hos- 
pital during  the  last  year  were  re-elected  thereto 
respectively.  The  election  of  a  Physician  and  Super- 
intendent of  the  Asylum  was  postponed,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Tyler  being  re-appointed  Steward  and  Matron. 
The  Standing  Committees  were  chosen,  and  Visiting 
Committees  were  arranged  for  the  year.  It  was 
directed  that  two  thousand  copies  of  the  annual 
report  be   printed. 


REPORT    FOR    1857.  525 

In  tliis  report  the  Committee  state  that  the  prop- 
erty yielding  an  income  applicable  to  the  general 
purposes  of  the  Corporation  is  $171,603.55.  The 
expenses  of  the  Hospital  and  the  Asylum  for  the 
past  year  have  been  $105,663.23  ;  the  receipts, 
$95,731.95.  This  excess  of  expenditure,  steadily 
diminishing  the  property  of  the  Institution  which 
is  exempted  from  special  trusts,  demands  earnest 
attention.  There  had  been  admitted  into  the  Hos- 
pital 920  patients,  at  an  average  weekly  expense 
for  each  patient  of  $5.90,  or,  including  repairs,  of 
$6.45.  There  had  been  treated  during  the  year 
1,574  out-patients.  There  had  been  admitted  into 
the  Asylum  141  patients,  and  there  remained  at  the 
close  of  the  year  178.  A  very  brief  report  comes 
from  Dr.  Bell,  who,  as  has  been  noticed,  a  few  weeks 
before  the  close  of  the  year  was  put  in  charge  of 
the  Asylum  temporarily,  on  account  of  the  illness 
of  Dr.  Booth.  The  Committee  refer  with  sadness 
to  the  death  of  this  useful,  beloved,  and  excellent 
man,  and  pay  another  warm  tribute  to  his  virtues, 
his  amiability,  and  fidelity,  and  to  the  qualities,  ex- 
perience, and  acquisitions  which  so  eminently  fitted 
him  for  his  exacting  and  responsible  trust. 

A  new  brick  stable  and  a  mechanics'  shop  had  been 
built  at  the  Asylum,  and  new  fences  had  been  put 
up.     Early  in   the    spring  the    Board   had   received 


526  ELECTION    OF    DR.    JOHN    E.    TYLER. 

notice  from  Charles  W.  Storey,  Esq.,  executor,  that 
the  Hospital  had  received  a  bequest  by  the  will  of 
the  late  Matthew  P.  Sawyer,  Esq.,  of  $7,000,  and 
that  it  was  also  the  residuary  leo:atee  of  the  estate. 
This  donation  —  the  amount  not  being  as  yet  known 

—  promised  to  be  large.  There  had  been  paid  to 
the  Corporation  during  the  year  the  bequest  of  Wil- 
liam Pickman,  Esq.,  of  $4,000,  to  be  apportioned 
equally  to  the  Hospital  and   the  Asylum. 

A  special  meeting  of  the  Board  was  held  on  Feb. 
12,  at  which  Dr.  John  E.  Tyler  was  unanimously 
elected  Physician  and  Superintendent  of  the  Asylum, 

—  Messrs.  Rogers,  Stevenson,  and  Mason  being  ap- 
pointed a  Committee  to  notify  him  of  his  election, 
and  to  make  arrangements  for  his  entrance  upon  his 
duties  at  as  early  a  day  as  practicable.  Thauks  and 
compensation  were  voted  to  Dr.  Bell  for  his  valuable 
services  during  the  illness  and  since  the  death  of  Dr. 
Booth.  Oliver  W.  AVebber  was  chosen  Apothecary 
of  the  Hospital. 

The  Board  voted,  on  Feb.  21,  "  that  the  Admit- 
ting Physician  be  instructed  to  receive  patients  with 
acute  diseases  into  the  Hospital  to  the  full  capacity 
of  the  wards,  if  applications  of  a  suitable  kind  are 
made,  until  otherwise  ordered  by  the  Board." 

A  communication  had  been  made  to  the  Trustees 
at  their  meeting  on  March  7,  relative  to  the  interest 


BEQUESTS    OF    DR.    J.    G.    TREADWELL.  527 

of  the  Corporation  in  the  will  of  the  late  Dr.  John 
G.  Treadwell,  of  Salem.  The  Committee  to  whom 
the  matter  had  been  referred  reported  at  the  meeting 
on  March  21  as  follows,  the  Board  concurring  in  the 
report  and  votes  :  — 

"  Whereas  the  President  and  Fellows  of  Harvard  Col- 
lege, by  a  vote  passed  at  a  stated  meeting,  on  Feb.  27  last, 
have  declined  to  receive  or  accept  the  bequest  made  to  them 
in  the  will  of  the  late  John  G.  Treadwell,  and  renounced 
all  benefit  and  interest  under  said  will,  as  by  an  attested 
copy  thereof  hereby  ordered  to  be  placed  on  our  records 
will  more  fully  appear  :  therefore  it  is  — 

"  Voted,  That  this  Corporation  doth  hereby  receive  and 
accept  the  devises  and  bequests  made  to  them  in  trust  in  the 
will  of  the  late  John  G.  Treadwell,  subject  to  the  conditions 
and  limitations  therein  contained  respecting  the  same  ;  and 
that  Messrs.  Rogers,  Lamb,  and  Mason  be,  and  they  are 
hereby  directed  and  empowered,  in  behalf  of  this  Corporation, 
to  take  possession  of  the  real  estate,  and  receive  and  obtain 
from  the  executors  proper  transfers  of  the  personal  property, 
with  full  power  to  make  such  arrangements  and  settlements, 
execute  such  instruments,  receipts,  and  discharges,  and  do 
and  perform  such  acts  and  things  as  may  be  necessary  and 
proper  in  the  premises." 

Another  vote  instructed  the  Treasurer  to  keep  two 
accounts  of  the  property  thus  received  :  one  account 
to  be  credited  with  the  sum  of  five  thousand  dol- 
lars, to  be  designated  "  The  Treadwell  Library  Fund, 
in  trust ;  "  and  the  other  account,  credited  with  the 
balance,  to  be  designated  "  The  Treadwell  Fund,  in 


528  NEW    OFFICER    AT    THE    HOSPITAL. 

trust."  It  was  also  voted  that  Messrs.  Rogers,  Lamb, 
and  Mason  "  be  a  Committee  to  take  charge  of  the 
Medical  Library  bequeathed  to  the  Corporation  by 
the  late  .John  G.  Treadwell,  and  make  such  arrange- 
ments for  its  safe  keeping,  conveyance  to  Boston,  and 
temporary  reception  in  the  Hospital,  as  may  to  them 
seem  proper  and  advisable ;  and  that  said  Committee 
consider  and  report  what  ultimate  and  permanent 
provision  will  be  necessary  and  appropriate  for  the 
accommodation  of  the  same." 

The  College  had  declined  the  bequest  proffered  to 
them  in  the  will  of  Dr.  Treadwell,  because  of  "  un- 
usual and  embarrassing  conditions  attached  to  it." 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Board  on  March  31,  on 
the  report  and  recommendation  of  a  Committee 
appointed  on  Dec.  20,  1857,  to  examine  into  the 
internal  affairs  of  the  Hospital,  it  was  "  voted  that 
in  the  opinion  of  this  Board  it  is  expedient  to  estab- 
lish the  office  of  Resident  Physician  at  the  Hospital, 
with  powers  and  duties  hereafter  to  be  prescribed." 
The  same  Committee  were  requested  to  report  to  the 
Board  such  new  Rules  and  Regulations,  and  such 
changes  in  those  now  in  force,  as  would  be  necessary 
to  define  the  powers  and  duties  of  the  new  officer 
and  applicable  to  the  change  in  the  existing  system ; 
and  also  to  report  a  suitable  candidate  for  the  said 
office.     Dr.  Dale  was  added  to  this  Committee,  which 


GIFT    FROM    ESTATE    OF    THOMAS    DOWSE.  529 

consisted  of  Messrs.  Kogers,  BuUard,  Greenougli, 
Lowell,  and  Mason. 

Capt.  Girdler  on  April  21  offered  his  resignation 
as  Superintendent  of  the  Hospital,  and  Mr,  Morton 
his  as  Secretary  of  the  Corporation.  At  the  meeting 
on  April  27,  the  Board  directed  the  Committee  on 
the  Treadwell  bequest  to  adapt  the  room  then  occu- 
pied by  the  Physicians  and  Surgeons  to  the  reception 
of  the  Treadwell  Library.  Great  anxiety  was  felt  at 
this  meeting  on  account  of  the  existence  ^f  fever 
of  a  very  malignant  character  in  the  Hospital.  The 
Physicians  and  Surgeons  were  authorized  to  employ 
such  additional  assistance  as  the  emergency  required. 
The  Committee,  to  whom  had  been  referred  the 
resignation  of  the  Secretary,  reported  resolutions, 
which  were  unanimously  adopted,  expressing  their 
regret  therefor,  and  tendering  their  thanks  for  the 
fidelity,  accuracy,  punctuality,  and  promptitude  with 
which  he  had  discharged  his  arduous  and  responsible 
duties  for  sixteen  years,  courteously  affording  the 
Board  the  aid  of  his  experience,  knowledge,  and 
ability.  The  salary  of  his  successor,  to  be  chosen, 
was  fixed  at  $300. 

A  communication  from  Mr.  George  Liver  more,  in 
behalf  of  the  executors  of  the  late  Mr.  Thomas 
Dowse,  of  Cambridge,  was  received  by  the  Board  on 
May   9,  enclosing   a   check  of  five  thousand  dollars, 

67 


530  THE  DOWSE  FREE-BED  FUND. 

as    a    donation    to    the    Hospital,      The    matter    was 
referred  to  the  Chiirman,  to  consider  and  report. 

Mr.  Thomas  B.  Hall  was  by  ballot  elected  Secre- 
tary, and  was  duly  qualified.  The  Committee  on  the 
Treadwell  estate  were  authorized  to  negotiate  with 
the  executors  for  a  final  settlement.  The  "  Com- 
mittee on  the  Internal  Administration  of  the  Hos- 
pital"  reported  on  May  19  some  Kules  and 
llegulations  defining  the  duties  of  the  new  office 
of  Resident  Physician,  with  certain  changes  in  the 
duties  of  other  offices.  After  certain  amendments 
had  been  made  in  the  draft,  the  report  was  accepted, 
and  the  changes  were  adopted,  to  take  eff"ect  when 
either  of  the  offices  named  therein  shall  be  filled.  It 
was  voted  that  the  salary  of  the  Resident  Physician 
be  fixed  at  fifteen  hundred  dollars.  The  same  Com- 
mittee were  empowered  and  requested  to  present 
candidates  for  the  offices  of  Steward  and  Matron. 

The  Committee  on  the  donation  through  the  trus- 
tees under  the  will  of  Thomas  Dowse  reported  on 
May  23,  recommending  that  the  Board  accept  it  on 
the  condition  accompanying  it;  viz.,  that  the  income 
of  it  be  appropriated  to  the  support  of  free  beds  in 
the  Hospital.  The  report  was  accepted,  and  it 
was  — 

"  Voted,  That  tliis  Board  accept  the  donation  on  the  above 
condition  ;  and  that  in  acknowledijmentof  the  services  rendered 


INTERNAL   ADMINISTRATION    OF   THE    HOSPITAL.       531 

by  the  trustees  of  Mr.  Dowse  in  this  behalf,  and  of  the  favor- 
able sentiments  towards  the  Institution  entertained  by  him, 
a  free  bed  be,  and  the  same  hereby  is,  appropriated  to  the 
use  of  George  Livermore  and  Eben  Dale,  Esquires,  during 
the  joint  lives  and  the  life  of  the  survivor  of  them,  subject  to 
the  rules  and  regulations  from  time  to  time  made  in  relation 
to  free  beds." 

It  was  also  voted  that  this  donation  and  all  re- 
investments of  its  proceeds  be  kept  distinct,  as  "  the 
Dowse  Fund  in  trust,"  the  income  to  be  for  the  sup- 
port of  free  beds  ;  and  that  the  Secretary  send  a 
certified  copy  of  these  votes  to  the  trustees  above- 
named. 

At  this  meeting  Dr.  Benjamin  Shurtleff  Shaw  was 
by  ballot  elected  Resident  Physician,  and  Dr.  Samuel 
L.  Abbot  Physician  to  out-door  patients  at  the  Hos- 
pital, in  conformity  with  the  new  arrangement  of 
offices  and  distribution  of  duties  which  had  been 
approved  by  recommendation  of  the  Committee  on 
the  Internal  Administration  of  the  Hospital.  In 
communicating  his  election  to  Dr  Abbot,  the  Secre- 
tary was  directed  to  assure  him  — 

"  That  the  Trustees  desire  to  avail  ot'  this  opportunity  to 
express  to  him  their  satisfaction  with  the  manner  in  which 
he  has  performed  the  responsible  duties  of  Admitting  Phy- 
sician for  the  past  nine  years,  and  to  bear  testimony  to  the 
faithfulness  and  zeal  which  have  characterized  all  his  rela- 
tions  with   this   Institution." 


532  THANKS    TO    CAPT.    GIRDLER. 

The  Board,  at  its  meeting  on  June  6,  granted  the 
request  of  Dr.  John  E.  Tyler,  to  attend  the  annual 
gathering  of  the  "  Medical  Superintendents  of  Insti- 
tutions for  the  Insane,"  to  be  holden  this  year  at 
Quebec ;  and,  in  consideration  of  the  advantage 
resulting  from  such  conventions,  voted  to  pay  his 
expenses  on  the  errand.  At  the  meeting  of  June 
16,  Miss  Sarah  W.  Salisbury,  by  letter,  renewed  her 
urgent  application  for  admission  to  the  Hospital  for 
the  purpose  before  stated.  The  Trustees  directed 
the  Secretary  to  inform  her  that  there  had  been  no 
change  in  the  views  of  the  Trustees  since  the  reply 
to  her  former  application.  Several  candidates  having 
been  presented  for  the  offices  of  Steward  and  Matron 
at  the  Hospital,  on  the  ballots  being  taken,  William 
B.  Gallison  was  unanimously  elected  Steward.  On 
the  nomination  of  Dr.  Shaw,  in  accordance  with  the 
rules,  Mrs.  Gallison  was  proposed  as  Matron,  and 
was  unanimously  elected.  The  united  salary  of 
the  Steward  and  Matron  was  fixed  at  $1,000.  The 
previous  resignation  of  Capt.  Girdler  was  then  acted 
upon  and  accepted,  and  it  was  "  voted  that  the 
thanks  of  the  Board  be  tendered  to  Capt.  Girdler  for 
his  long  and  faithful  services  as  Superintendent  of 
the  Hospital,  and  that  in  consideration  thereof  the 
Treasurer  be  directed  to  pay  him  his  regular  salary 
to  October  next." 


RESIGNATION    OF    DR.    STORER.  533 

The  Trustees,  at  their  meeting  on  June  22,  voted 
that  the  Committee  on  Accounts,  by  the  new  rule 
that  had  been  adopted,  should  consist  of  two  mem- 
bers of  the  Board,  and  that  Messrs.  Stevenson  and 
Mason  constitute  that  Committee. 

Mr.  Rogers,  as  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  the 
Treadwell  property,  read  a  report,  which  was  accepted 
and  placed  on  file.  He  also,  as  chairman  of  a  Com- 
mittee to  whom  had  been  referred  the  resignation  of 
Dr.  D.  H.  Storer  as  Visiting  Physician,  which  had 
been  offered  at  the  meeting  on  July  6,  recommended 
that  the  same  be  accepted,  with  the  following  vote,  in 
which  the  Board  concurred  :  — 

^' Voted,  That  although  the  term  of  service  of  Dr.  D. 
Humphreys  Storer  has  not  been  of  so  long  duration  as  that 
of  some  of  his  predecessors  in  office,  it  has  been,  like  theirs, 
distinguished  for  high  professional  knowledge  and  skill,  and 
for  promptness  and  exactitude  in  the  discharge  of  duty.  And 
this  Board,  in  token  of  their  appreciation  of  his  valuable 
labors,  self-sacrificing  spirit,  and  independent  and  manly 
bearing,  tender  to  him  their  sincere  thanks,  accompanied  by 
their  best  wishes  for  his  future  happiness  and  success." 

Dr.  Francis  Minot  was,  on  July  20,  elected  a  Visit- 
ing Physician  to  the  Hospital,  in  the  vacancy  caused 
by  the  resignation  of  Dr.  Storer. 

The  Board,  at  its  meeting  on  Sept.  14,  authorized 
the  Superintendent   of    the   Asylum    to    expend  one 


534  THE    TREADWELL   LIBRARY. 

hundred  dollars  for  books  for  the  use  of  patients,  and 
to  make  such  arrangements  for  amusements  for  them 
as  he  may  deem  expedient,  all  under  the  supervision 
of  the  Chairman  of  the  Board. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Board  on  Sept.  28,  Dr.  Shaw 
found  it  necessary  to  announce  the  resignation  of  Mr. 
Gallison,  so  recently  elected  Steward  of  the  Hospital, 
on  account  of  ill  health.  The  Board  accepted  the 
resignation,  and  appointed  Messrs.  Stevenson  and 
Lowell,  with  the  Chairman,  a  Committee  to  nominate 
a  candidate  for  the  office,  with  authority  to  make  all 
needful  temporary  arrangements.  A  communication 
was  read  from  E,.  H.  Eddy,  Esq.,  executor  of  the  will 
of  the  late  Mrs.  Agnes  Austin,  stating  a  bequest  to 
this  Corporation  of  two  estates  in  Salem,  and  five 
thousand  dollars  to  the  Asylum.  The  same  was 
referred  to  the  Finance  Committee.  The  salary  of 
the  Physician  to  out-door  patients  was  fixed,  on  Nov. 
7,  at  $300.  The  interest  of  the  Corporation  in  the 
estate  of  the  late  M.  P.  Sawyer  engaged  the  attention 
of  the  Board  at  its  meeting  on  Nov.  21,  and  the 
matter  was  put  in  charge  of  two  committees,  and  was 
in  part  disposed  of  at  the  meeting  of  the  Board  on 
Dec.  5.  At  this  meeting,  Mr.  Rogers,  in  behalf  of  a 
Committee  to  whom  had  been  referred  the  subject  of 
the  Treadwell  Library,  presented  a  report,  with  ac- 
companying votes,  and  proposed  rules  and  regulations 


ESTATE    OF    M.    P.    SAWYER.  535 

for  its  use.  These  were  accepted,  providing  for  the 
preservation,  the  careful  oversight,  and  the  annual 
examination  of  the  books,  and  for  the  faithful  per- 
formance of  the  requisitions  contained  in  the  will  of 
the  late  Ur.  Treadwell,  respecting  the  care  and  use 
of  said  library,  and  providing  also  for  additions  to 
the  same. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Board  on  Dec.  19,  commu- 
nications were  received  from  Messrs.  J.  B.  Bradlee 
and  C.  H.  ^lills,  resigning  their  places  as  Trustees. 
A  claim  had  been  advanced  by  Mrs.  Lydia  N.  Ray- 
mond to  an  interest  in  the  house  No.  26  Beacon 
Street,  then  in  possession  of  the  Hospital,  under  the 
will  of  the  late  M.  P.  Sawyer.  Mr.  Rogers,  in  behalf 
of  a  Committee  to  which  the  matter  had  been  referred, 
submitted  a  report  upon  it,  with  votes,  which  were 
accepted  by  the  Board,  as  follows  :  — 

"Voted,  That  in  consideration  of  the  doubt  whicli  exists 
as  to  the  testamentary  intentions  of  Matthias  P.  Sawyer, 
deceased,  respecting  the  estate  numbered  26  Beacon  Street, 
now  in  the  lawful  possession  of  this  Corporation,  by  virtue  of 
the  residuary  clause  of  his  will,  and  of  the  handsome  sums 
of  money  which  they  have  received,  and  still  expect  to  receive 
from  his  benevolent  disposition  towards  them,  this  Corporation 
hereby  surrenders  their  legal  rights  in  this  estate,  and  relin- 
quishes the  same  to  Mrs.  Raymond." 

The  Secretary  and  Treasurer  were  authorized  and 
directed  to  prepare  and  execute  a  proper  quitclaim 


536  ORGANIZATION    FOR    1859. 

deed  of  this    estate,  in  conformity  with  the  terms  of 
this  vote. 

Messrs.  Lawrence  and  Wigglesworth  were  ap- 
pointed a  Committee  to  prepare  the  annual  report. 

At  its  meeting  on  Jan.  14,  1859,  the  Board  fixed 
the  salary  of  the  office  of  Steward  at  the  Hospital  at 
$1,000,  and  that  of  the  Matron  at  $250  ;  the  present 
incumbents  of  those  offices  to  be  remunerated  at 
those  rates  for  their  services  since  the  resignation  of 
Mr.  Gallison.  At  the  meeting  on  Jan.  19,  authority 
was  given  to  the  Chairman  of  the  Board  to  execute 
an  indenture  in  behalf  of  the  Corporation  with 
the  City  of  Boston,  providing  for  the  filling  up  of 
the  flats  lying  between  the  Hospital  grounds  and  the 
Harbor  Commissioners'  line. 

The  annual  meeting  of  the  Corporation  was  held 
at  the  Hospital  on  Jan.  26,  1859,  when  the  annual 
report,  including  those  of  the  Treasurer  and  of  the 
officers  of  the  Hospital  and  Asylum,  was  presented. 
^  At  the  first  subsequent  meeting  of  the  Trustees  on 
Feb.  13,  it  appeared  that  the  election  of  officers  for 
the  year  had  been  as  follows  :  William  Appleton, 
President;  N.  I.  Bowditch,  \lce-President ;  Henry 
Andrews,  Treasurer,  and  T.  B.  Hall,  Secretary  ; 
Messrs.  N.  H.  Emmons,  W.  W.  Greenough,  George 
Higginson,  John  Lowell,  R.  M.  Mason,  H.  B.  Rogers, 
J.  T.  Stevenson,  and  Edward  Wiggles  worth,  Trustees 


REPORT    FOR    1858.  537 

on  the  part  of  the  Corporation  ;  and  Messrs.  W.  S. 
Billiard,  W.  J.  Dale,  Thomas  Lamb,  and  Abbott  Law- 
rence, Trustees  on  the  part  of  the  Commonwealth. 
Mr.  Roo-ers  was  re-elected  Chairman  of  the  Board. 
The  same  gentlemen  were  chosen  on  the  Board  of 
Consultation  as  had  served  last  year.  The  only 
change  on  the  Board  of  Visiting  Physicians  was  that 
Dr.  Francis  Minot  took  the  place  of  Dr.  D.  H.  Storer. 
The  Board  of  Visiting  Surgeons  remained  unchanged. 
Dr.  J.  Bacon,  jun.,  was  also  re-elected  Chemist ;  Dr.  C. 
Ellis,  Microscopist  and  Curator  of  the  Pathological 
Cabinet ;  Dr.  B.  S.  Shaw,  Resident  Physician  ;  Dr.  S. 
L.  Abbot,  Physician  to  out-door  patients.  Lucius  M. 
Sargent,  jun.,  was  elected  Artist ;  Mr.  Harvey  Howard, 
Steward  ;  and  Mrs.  Sarah  L.  Gallison,  Matron  of  the 
Hospital.  Dr.  John  E.  Tyler  was  re-elected  Physician 
and  Superintendent  of  the  Asylum  ;  Columbus  Tyler, 
Steward  ;  and  Mrs.  M.  E.  Tyler,  Matron.  The  Stand- 
ing Committees  were  appointed,  and  the  Visiting 
Committees  were  arranged.  It  was  ordered  that  two 
thousand  copies  of  the  annual  report  be  printed. 

This  report  states  the  amount  of  the  property  of 
the  Corporation  yielding  income  to  be  $168,489.75. 
The  income  had  been  |97,422.25 ;  the  expenses, 
$110,477.96.  There  had  been  admitted  to  the  Hos- 
pital 1,015  patients,  at  an  average  weekly  expense 
for  each  of  $6.53,  including,  and  of  $5,671  excluding, 

68 


538  REPORT  FOR   1858. 

repairs.  There  had  been  treated  during  the'  year 
2,223  out-door  patients.  The  Trustees  had  made 
material  changes  in  the  Kules  and  Regulations  for  the 
Hospital,  the  most  important  of  which  was  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  offices  of  Resident  Physician  and 
Steward,  in  place  of  a  Superintendent.  There  had 
been  admitted  to  the  Asylum  155  patients,  and  there 
remained  at  the  end  of  the  year  186.  Dr.  John  E. 
Tyler  had  succeeded  Dr.  Booth  in  charge.  The  respect 
and  distinction  which  he  had  won  while  he  had  under 
his  care  the  New  Hampshire  State  Asylum,  and  his 
own  eminent  qualifications,  were  assurances  that  he 
would  maintain  and  increase  the  high  reputation  of 
this  institution.  The  sum  of  $7,000  had  been  re- 
ceived from  the  estate  of  the  late  M.  P.  Sawyer,  for 
free  beds  at  the  Hospital,  besides  property  in  real 
estate  estimated  at  $18,000,  to  accrue  at  some  distant 
period.  The  reversionary  bequest  from  D.  J.  G. 
Treadwell  amounted  to  about  $-10,000,  besides  his 
valuable  library,  which  had  been  suitably  disposed  in 
the  Hospital.  The  donation  of  $5,000  through  the 
trustees  of  Mr.  Dowse,  and  the  legacy  of  $15,000, 
received  under  the  will  of  the  late  Mrs.  Agnes  Aus- 
tin of  Cambridge,  consisting  of  real  estate  valued  at 
$10,000  to  the  Hospital,  and  $5,000  to  the  Asylum, 
had  been  gratefully  acknowledged.  Both  institutions 
were  in  a  satisfactory  condition,  and  were  faithfully 
directed. 


DR.  Tyler's  report.  539 

Dr.  Shaw,  in  making  his  first  report  as  Resident 
Physician  of  the  Hospital,  says  that  the  ability  to 
receive  and  treat  an  increased  number  of  proper  and 
curable  patients  has  been  secured  by  refusing,  as  a 
general  rule,  to  receive  such  as  did  not  admit  of  cure 
or  of  very  decided  relief,  and  by  limiting  the  stay  of 
patients  to  the  period  in  which  they  actually  needed 
medical  or  hygienic  treatment.  Tliere  had  been  in 
the  Hospital  at  one  time  during  the  year  120  free 
patients.  As  the  principal  article  of  house  diet,  a 
nutritious  soup  had  been  introduced. 

Dr.  Tyler,  in  making  his  first  report,  states  the  fact 
that,  while  during  the  year  the  male  wards  of  the 
Asylum  had  been  seldom  crowded,  nearly  as  many 
female  patients  had  been  declined  as  had  been 
received,  which  were  seventy-nine  ;  from  which  he 
infers  that  "it  will  hold  true  of  this  vicinity  for  the 
year  past,  that  more  females  than  males  have  been 
reached  by  mental  disease."  The  year  had  been  one 
remarkable  for  extraordinary  religious  excitement 
and  interest,  and  for  commercial  disturbance  and  dis- 
aster, affecting  deeply  both  sexes  and  all  classes  of 
society,  and  acting  severely  upon  their  intellectual  and 
emotional  faculties.  Dr.  Tyler  discusses  this  subject 
in  a  very  instructive  and  judicious  way.  He  mentions 
the  benefit  found  in  the  Asylum  in  the  use  of  sul- 
phuric ether,  in  a  careful  and  discriminating  way,  for 


540  MR.    STEVENSON,    TREASURER. 

the  tranquillization  of  the  nervous  system.  He  asks 
for  an  addition  to  the  library  at  the  Asylum.  By 
request  of  the  Trustees,  he  offers  some  suggestions  as 
to  improvement  in  heating  and  ventilating  appara- 
tus, and  the  reconstructing  of  apartments  for  excited 
patients.  He  promises  an  entire  self-devotion  to 
his  sacred  trust. 

Dr.  Tyler's  request  for  an  increase  of  the  library 
at  the  Asylum  was  referred  to  the  Visiting  Committee 
for  consideration  and  report.  A  communication  was 
read  from  Henry  Andrews,  resigning  the  office  of 
Treasurer  of  the  Corporation,  when  it  was  "  voted 
that  the  resignation  be  accepted."  Also,  on  motion 
of  Mr.  Wigglesworth,  it  was  "  voted  that  the  thanks 
of  the  Board  be  presented  to  our  late  Treasurer  for 
his  valuable  services  to  this  Corporation  during  the 
long  period  of  twenty-four  years,  in  which  his  uni- 
form fidelity  has  gained  for  him  the  respect  of  all  the 
Boards  of  Trustees  with  which  he  has  been  con- 
nected." At  a  special  meeting  of  the  Board,  held  on 
Feb.  18,  Mr.  T.  J.  Stevenson  sent  a  communication 
resigning  his  office  as  a  Trustee,  and  a  vote  of  thanks 
was  passed  to  him  "  for  his  long  and  faithful  ser- 
vices." Mr.  Stevenson  was  then  elected,  by  ballot, 
Treasurer  of  the  Corporation  for  the  ensuing  year. 
Thus  began  the  term  of  service,  which  at  this  pres- 
ent writing  still  continues,  of  an  officer  of  this   Cor- 


TREADWELL   LIBRARY.  541 

poration,  who  has  given  to  a  most  exacting  and  re- 
sponsible tnist  signal  abilities,  the  highest  financial 
skill  and  judgment,  with  a  warm  interest  in  the  cause 
of  humanity  which  the  institution  represents.  The 
complicated  accounts  which  he  administers  form  a 
lucid  record  even  for  those,  not  experts,  who  annually 
audit  them. 

Marcus  Morton,  jun.,  was  elected  a  Trustee  for  the 
ensuing  year,  in  the  vacancy  caused  by  the  resig- 
nation of  Mr.  Stevenson. 

On  Feb.  27,  the  Board  voted,  after  a  report  from 
the  Committee  on  the  library  of  the  Asylum,  to 
whom  the  request  of  Dr.  Tyler  had  been  referred, 
"  that  three  hundred  dollars  per  annum  be  placed  at 
the  disposal  of  the  Superintendent  and  Physician  of 
the  Asylum  to  be  used  in  the  purchase  of  books 
for  the  permanent  increase  of  the  library." 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Board  on  March  27,  meas- 
ures were  adopted  for  the  settlement  of  the  interest 
of  the  Corporation  in  the  estate  of  the  late  M.  P. 
Sawyer.  At  the  meeting  on  April  20,  similar  steps 
were  taken  in  reference  to  the  bequests  from  the  Tread- 
well  property.  A  final  report  upon  the  latter  subject 
was  made  and  accepted  at  a  meeting  of  the  Board  on 
May  8,  and  the  selection  was  then  approved  of  Dr. 
Shaw,  as  Guardian  and  Librarian  of  the  Tread  well 
Library,  at  a  salary  of  one  hundred  dollars.     Mr.  Mor- 


542  YOTES    OF    THE    TRUSTEES. 

ton  resigned  his  seat  on  the  Board,  as  a  Trustee,  on 
June  5,  and  the  resignation  was  accepted.  A  Com- 
mittee, of  which  Mr.  Rogers  was  Chairman,  reported 
on  July  14  on  the  proposed  purchase  of  "  the  Wood- 
ward Lot  and  Joy  Farm,"  near  the  Asylum ;  and  it 
was  "  voted  that  the  Treasurer  be  authorized  to 
purchase  the  '  Woodward  Lot,'  so  called,  next  the 
Asylum,  at  Somerville,  at  a  rate  not  exceeding 
twenty-five  cents  per  square  foot."  The  Treasurer 
reported  on  Aug.  9  that  he  had  effected  the  pur- 
chase. G.  Rowland  Shaw  was,  on  Sept.  20,  elected 
a  Trustee  in  the  vacancy  caused  by  the  resignation 
of  Mr.  Morton  ;  but,  in  a  communication  received  by 
the  Board  on  Oct.  14,  he  declined  the  office. 

The  Board  voted,  at  its  meeting  on  Nov.  6,  an 
amendment  of  a  rule  of  the  Hospital,  so  that  it 
should  read,  "  Any  individual  on  the  payment  of  one 
hundred  dollars  shall  be  entitled  to  a  free  bed  at  the 
Hospital  for  one  year."  Mr.  Rogers,  in  behalf  of  a 
Committee  to  whom  had  been  referred  the  question  of 
the  expediency  of  receiving  inebriates  as  patients  at 
the  Asylum,  raised  by  Dr.  Tyler's  last  quarterly  report, 
made  a  brief  report,  which  was  accepted :  whereupon 
it  was  "  voted  that  this  Board  deem  the  practice  of 
admitting  inebriates  into  the  Asylum  to  be  highly 
prejudicial  to  its  best  interests,  and  that  hereafter  no 
such   persons    be    admitted   as  patients   without   the 


EXTENSION    OF   ASYLUM    GROUNDS.  .543 

express  order  of  the  Board  in  each  case."  At  the 
meeting  of  the  Trustees  on  Nov.  20,  Mr,  N.  I.  Bow- 
ditch  received  the  thanks  of  the  Board  for  a  newly 
bound  copy  of  his  "  History  of  the  Massachusetts 
General  Hospital."  The  Board  referred  to  Mr. 
Lowell,  with  full  powers,  the  matter  of  building  a* 
sea-wall  on  the  boundary  of  the  Hospital  grounds. 
Mr.  Eogers,  for  the  Committee  on  improvements  at 
the  Asylum,  reported  a  proposition  in  writing  from 
M.  C.  U.  Getting,  agent  for  Miss  Joy,  for  the  sale  of 
a  strip  of  land  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  wide,  on 
the  north-east  side  of  the  Asylum  grounds,  and  the 
surrender  of  certain  rights  ^f  way  and  restrictions  on 
the  south-east  and  south-west.  This  proposition  com- 
ing before  the  Board  on  the  next  day,  Nov.  21,  at  an 
adjournment,  the  following  resolutions  and  vote  were 
unanimously  passed :  — 

^^  Resolved,  That  the  extinguishment  of  all  rights  now  held 
by  any  persons  whatever  other  than  this  Corporation,  in  Asy- 
lum and  Essex  Streets,  and  of  the  restrictions  upon  building 
easterly  of  Essex  Street,  is  desirable." 

^^  Resolved.)  That  the  purchase  of  a  strip  of  land  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  feet  wide,  on  tlie  north-east  side  of  the  Asylum 
premises,  is  also  desirable.  Therefore,  Voted,  That  the 
Committee  on  improvements  at  the  Asylum  be  authorized, 
at  their  discretion,  to  effect  these  objects,  at  an  expense  not 
exceeding  $33,000." 


544  DONATIONS    AND    BEQUESTS. 

At  the  next  meeting,  held  Dec.  4,  the  same  Com- 
mittee reported  progress  in  negotiations  to  effect  this 
object,  and  received  further  authority  from  the  Board. 

Grateful  acknowledgments  were  made  by  the 
Board,  on  Dec.  18,  to  Mr.  O.  W.  Bird,  executor,  for 
the  receipt,  through  him,  of  a  legacy  of  $1,000, 
bequeathed  to  the  institution  by  his  grandfather,  the 
late  George  Hills ;  and  thanks  were  voted  to  Dr.  J. 
Mason  Warren  for  the  gift  of  a  copy  of  the  "  Life  " 
of  his  late  father,  Dr.  J.  C.  Warren.  A  communica- 
tion from  Dr.  H.  J.  Bigelow  announced  the  bequest 
to  him,  by  the  late  Mrs.  S.  Benton  Thompson,  of 
1492.40,  for  the  benefit  (5f  the  patients  of  the  Hos- 
pital, with  the  request  — 

"That  the  income  accruing  shall  be  added  to  the  principal, 
until  the  latter  shall  reach  the  sum  of  $500 ;  after  which  the 
income  shall  be  made  payable  annually  to  Henry  J.  Bigelow 
during  his  life,  to  be  distributed  at  his  pleasure,  for  the  ben- 
efit of  the  patients  in  the  Hospital,  and  after  his  death  the 
income  to  be  devoted  to  the  support  of  free  beds." 

"  Voted,  That  the  Trustees  accept  the  donation  from  Dr. 
Bigelow,  on  the  conditions  named,  and  that  the  same  be 
called  the  '  Thompson  Fund  ; '  and  that  the  grateful  acknowl- 
edgments of  the  Board  be  presented  through  Dr.  Bigelow  to 
the  executors  of  the  will  of  the  late  Mrs.  Thompson." 

Messrs.  Emmons  and  Higginson  were  appointed 
by  the  Board,  on  Jan.  1,  1860,  to  prepare  the  annual 
report  for  the  last  year.     Henry  H.  Benson  commu- 


ORGANIZATION    FOR    1860.  545 

nicated  to  the  Board,  on  Jan.  13,  his  resignation  of 
the  office  of  male  Supervisor  at  the  Asylum.  The 
resignation  was  accepted ;  and  the  Board  confirmed 
the  nomination,  by  Dr.  Tyler,  of  George  A.  Goodell, 
as  his  successor.  The  usual  reports  of  the  Treasurer 
and  the  other  officers  of  the  institution  were  pre- 
sented at  this  and  the  next  meeting,  on  Jan.  18,  and 
referred  to  the  Committee  on  the  annual  report. 
Appropriations  were  made  for  repairs  at  the  Asylum, 
and  for  furniture  for  a  Lecture-room  there.  The 
thanks  of  the  Board  were  voted,  on  Jan.  25,  to 
Messrs.  Maynard  &  Noyes,  of  Boston,  for  their  long- 
continued  kindness  in  allowing  the  accommodation 
of  their  premises  as  a  place  for  receiving  packages 
for  the  Asylum ;  also,  to  the  family  of  the  late  Dr. 
Perry  for  a  photograph  likeness  of  him,  received 
from  the  hands  of  Dr.  Bowditch. 

The  Committee  on  the  annual  report  presented 
their  report  for  the  year  1859,  which  was  read, 
accepted,  and  with  the  accompanying  papers  ordered 
to  be  laid  before  the  Corporation  at  its  annual  meet- 
ing on  this  day. 

At  the  first  meeting  of  the  Trustees,  on  Feb.  5, 
1860,  after  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Corporation,  it 
appeared  that  the  following  gentlemen  had  been 
elected  officers  for  the  ensuing  year :  William  Apple- 
ton,  President ;  N.  I.  Bowditch,  Vice-President ;  J.  T. 

69 


546  REPORT   FOR   1859. 

Stevenson,  Treasurer  ;  T.  B.  Hall,  Secretary  ;  Messrs. 
J.  M.  Beebe,  N.  H.  Emmons,  W.  W.  Greenough, 
George  Higginson,  John  Lowell,  E..  M.  Mason,  H.  B. 
Kogers,  and  Edward  Wigglesworth,  Trustees  on  the 
part  of  the  Corporation  ;  and  Messrs.  Martin  Brimmer, 
W.  S.  Bullard,  W.  J.  Dale,  and  Thomas  Lamb,  Trus- 
tees on  the  part  of  the  Commonwealth.  On  the 
organization  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  Mr.  H.  B. 
Rogers  was  re-elected  Chairman.  No  change  was 
made  in  the  last  year's  Boards  of  Consultation  of 
Visiting  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  nor  among  the 
officers  of  the  Hospital,  except  that  Oliver  H.  Web- 
ber was  chosen  Apothecary,  and  there  was  no  choice 
of  an  Artist,  Dr.  Sargent  having  declined  a  re- 
election. Dr.  J.  E.  Tyler  was  re-appointed  Physician 
and  Superintendent  of  the  Asylum,  and  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Columbus  Tyler  Steward  and  Matron.  The  Standing 
Committees  on  Finance,  on  Accounts,  on  Free  Beds, 
on  the  Warren  Fund  and  Library,  and  on  the  Book 
of  Donations,  were  appointed,  and  the  Visiting  Com- 
mittees were  arranged  for  the  year.  It  was  directed 
that  two  thousand  copies  of  the  annual  report  be 
printed. 

The  Committee,  in  this  report,  estimate  the  amount 
of  the  property  of  the  institution,  from  nearly  all  of 
which  income  is  derived,  at  |2o8,558.67.  The  ex- 
penses of  the  Hospital  and  the  Asylum  for  the  year 


LEGACIES    RECEIVED.  547 

had  been  $98,789.64,  and  the  receipts  $94,076.47. 
The  cost  to  the  Corporation  for  the  maintenance  of 
934  free  patients  had  been  $31,910.47  ;  the  income 
of  funds  specially  appropriated  to  that  purpose  hav- 
ing been  $14,816.06,  leaving  $17,094.41  chargeable 
to  the  general  funds.  There  had  been  admitted  to 
the  Hospital  1,240  patients,  at  an  average  weekly 
expense  for  each  of  $5,751,  including,  and  of  $5.33, 
excluding,  repairs.  Though  there  had  been  such  an 
increase  in  the  number  of  patients,  yet  at  no  time 
were  all  the  beds  occupied,  nor  was  any  proper 
applicant  refused  admission.  Thus  the  new  system 
adopted  by  the  Trustees  as  to  the  discharge  of  con- 
valescents had  worked  satisfactorily.  The  Committee 
commend  the  order  and  efficiency  of  the  adminis- 
tration of  Dr.  Shaw.  The  Physician  to  out-door 
patients  had  treated  3,165  cases.  There  had  been 
admitted  to  the  Asylum  131  patients,  and  175  re- 
mained at  the  end  of  the  year,  317  patients  having 
received  its  benefits  during  the  year,  at  an  average 
weekly  cost  for  each  of  $6.16|-.  Several  of  the 
wards  had  been  greatly  improved  and  refurnished. 
The  Committee  express  a  high  appreciation  of  the 
services  of  Dr.  Tyler.  Recognition  is  made  of  the 
legacy  of  $1,000  from  the  late  Mr.  George  Hills,  of 
Boston ;  of  the  donation  of  $3,857.22  from  Dr. 
E,ufus    Kittredge,    the    income    of    which    is    to   be 


548  DR.    SHAW's    REPORT. 

applied  to  "  Asylum  "  purposes  ;  and  of  the  donation 
of  f  492.40  from  Mrs.  Thompson,  for  the  "  Hospital." 
Both  Hospital  and  Asylum  are  reported  to  be  in  a 
satisfactory  condition  under  the  efficient  and  devoted 
management  of  their  officers  and  attendants.  Dr. 
Shaw  reports  that,  besides  the  out-door  patients,  about 
five  hundred  persons  had  had  the  aid  of  dentistry  in 
the  extraction  of  teeth.  The  object  of  the  Hospital 
being  to  afford  substantial  relief  to  the  largest  pos- 
sible number  of  persons,  it  is  not  consistent  with  it 
to  use  even  beds  temporarily  unoccupied  for  patients 
with  incurable  diseases.  It  is  more  in  conformity 
with  the  design  of  the  institution  that  eight  or  ten 
sufferers  by  acute  disease  should  be  successively 
relieved,  than  that  the  bed  which  they  might  occupy 
should  be  used,  it  may  be  for  a  year,  by  a  chronic 
incurable.  One  half  of  those  who  during  the  year 
had  been  refused  admission,  being  of  foreign  birth, 
had  been  referred  to  the  State  institutions  provided 
for  them.  Beds  must  be  reserved  for  urgent  cases. 
Much  relief  is  afforded  to  out-patients  by  the  loan  of 
Hospital  furniture,  surgical  apparatus,  fracture -beds, 
&c.  A  very  complete  catalogue  had  been  made  of 
the  Treadwell  Medical  Library,  which  may  be  con- 
sulted by  any  proper  applicant  in  the  profession.  By 
a  new  plan  of  administration  there  had  been  a  reduc- 
tion of  the  internal  expenses  of  the  Hospital,  with- 


DR.  Tyler's  report.  549 

out  any  loss  in   good  diet,  or  nursing   and  medical 
care. 

Dr.  Tyler,  in  his  report,  gives  a  condensed  but 
most  striking  and  classified  statement  of  the  indi- 
vidual and  the  classes  of  cases  which  in  the  course  of 
the  year  come  under  his  care,  with  the  various  forms 
of  mental  disease,  —  wild  and  destructive  mania, 
frenzy,  deep  depression,  suicidal  tendency,  delusion, 
and  exhaustion, — all  needing,  and  through  their 
friends  finding,  the  merciful  refuge  of  the  Asylum. 
The  relief  to  those  friends  from  manifold  and  painful 
anxieties,  and  the  increase  of  comfort  and  safe  liberty 
to  the  patients,  are  blessings  hardly  measurable.  Th3 
number  of  perfect  recoveries,  and  the  restoring  of 
useful  and  valued  persons  to  their  homes,  families, 
and  duties,  call  for  gratitude.  Recent  improvements 
have  added  much  to  the  convenience  and  elegance  of 
the  house  arrangements.  A  great  variety  of  amuse- 
ments and  means  of  recreation  —  billiard-tables,  bowl- 
ing-alleys, saddle-ponies,  carriages,  sleigh-rides,  chess, 
cards,  backgammon,  bagatelle,  the  library,  sewing- 
circles,  and  music  —  offer  their  resources.  Many 
patients  have  attended  concerts  and  lectures  in 
Boston,  and  public  worship  on  Sunday  in  various 
churches.  Every  Sunday  evening  a  sermon  is  read, 
with  singing,  in  one  of  the  wings.  Holiday  parties, 
with  dancing,  and  stereopticon,   ventriloquism,  &c., 


550  DR.    TYLER    ON    INSANITY. 

were  held  on  Christmas,  New  Year's,  February  22, 
July  4,  and  other  occasions.  The  unremitting  vigi- 
lance of  attendants  has  prevented  accidents  and 
secured  safety. 

Dr.  Tyler  proceeds,  at  some  length,  to  make  one 
of  those  admirable  contributions  to  the  science  and 
practical  wisdom  of  his  specialty,  which  give  such 
high  character  and  value  to  the  series  of  reports 
offered  by  the  heads  of  the  Asylum.  He  pronounces 
insanity  a  disease,  curable  under  conditions,  like 
other  diseases,  and  more  hopeful  of  cure  the  earlier 
it  is  brought  under  specific  treatment.  He  sets  aside 
the  absurdity  of  its  being  a  disgrace.  He  opposes 
the  fancy  or  theory  that  it  can  ever  exist,  without  a 
derangement  of  the  brain  as  an  organ,  or  in  its  func- 
tions ;  yet  he  distinctly  recognizes  it  as  a  secondary 
effect  of  diseases,  like  dyspepsia,  not  originating  in 
the  brain.  Even  hereditary  victims  of  insanity  are 
not  to  be  considered  incurable  any  more  than  if  the 
disease  were  fever  or  rheumatism.  Dr.  Tyler  then 
points  at  some  of  the  causes  which  are  influential  in 
producing  insanity,  as  warnings  for  those  who  would 
avert  it  for  themselves  or  for  others.  An  enlightened 
supervision  of  the  training  of  childhood  and  youth, 
proper  exercise  and  furnishing  of  the  intellect,  the 
recognition  of  moral  laws  and  facts,  self-control ;  the 
restraining  of  personal  caprices,  and  of  all  appetites ; 


BENEFICIARIES    AT   THE    ASYLUM.  551 

a  regard  for  the  intellectual,  moral,  and  physical 
powers  in  their  due  relations  and  proportions  ;  relax- 
ation from  too  assiduous  devotion  to  a  special  work 
or  calling  ;  the  rational  treatment  of  bodily  ailments  ; 
and,  above  all,  strict  temperance,  —  are  the  safeguards 
which  science  and  experience  commend  to  all. 

The  Trustees  instructed  the  Secretary  to  inform 
the  Treasurer  that  it  would  be  agreeable  to  them  to 
have  him  participate  freely  in  their  discussions  when- 
ever he  should  attend  the  meetings.  At  the  next 
meeting,  Feb.  19,  it  was  — 

"Voted,  That  the  Treasurer  keep  a  separate  and  distinct 
account  of  all  income  received  from,  and  all  expenditures 
incurred  on  account  of,  each  of  the  funds  which  have  been 
or  may  be  hereafter  received  for  account  of  the  Asylum,  in 
respect  to  the  use  and  application  of  which  there  are  any 
special  provisions  ;  and  that  all  unexpended  balances  of  said 
accounts  remaining  at  the  close  of  the  year  be  carried  to  the 
debit  of  the  new  account  for  the  succeeding  year." 

It  was  also  voted  that  the  Superintendent  of  the 
Asylum,  at  each  quarterly  meeting  of  the  Board, 
should  present  separate  lists  of  such  beneficiary 
patients  as  in  his  judgment  should  receive  aid  from 
the  special  trusts  and  funds  for  the  ensuing  quarter, 
that  the  Board  might  act  on  each  case  by  a  distinct 
vote.  The  Chairman  from  a  Committee  reported, 
recommending  the  appointing  a  "  Standing  Commit- 


552  VOTES    OF    TRUSTEES. 

tee  on  Alterations  and  Repairs  "  at  the  Hospital  and 
Asylum,  with  full  powers  in  all  cases  in  which  the 
expense  would  not  exceed  one  hundred  dollars,  the 
consent  of  the  Board  being  requisite  for  any  proposed 
outlay  beyond  that  amount.  The  report  and  its 
recommendations  were  approved.  The  rules  and 
regulations  were  amended  according  to  these  new 
provisions,  and  the  new  Committee  was  appointed 
for  the  current  year. 

An  ice-closet  was  provided  for  the  Hospital,  by 
vote,  April  1.  A  nuisance,  caused  by  the  city  in 
filling  the  flats  west  of  the  Hospital,  called  for  the 
action  and  protest  of  the  Board,  on  May  6.  Pro- 
vision was  made  for  proper  diplomas  for  House  Pupils 
at  the  Hospital.  Mrs.  George  G.  Lee  subscribed 
$1,000  for  a  life  free  bed  at  the  Hospital.  Dr.  Tyler 
received  permission,  on  May  20,  to  be  absent  from 
the  Asylum  for  attendance  on  the  Convention  to  be 
held  at  Philadelphia,  of  Superintendents  of  Institu- 
tions for  the  Insane.  The  Treasurer  was  afterwards 
authorized  to  pay  the  travelling  expenses  of  this  visit, 
as  for  the  benefit  of  the  Asylum.  On  June  19,  per- 
mission was  granted  to  the  House  Pupils  to  sleep 
and  take  their  breakfasts  at  the  Hospital  until  other- 
wise ordered.  During  a  contemplated  absence  of 
Mr.  Rogers,  Mr.  Wiggles  worth  was,  on  July  3, 
chosen  temporary  Chairman  of  the  Board.     A  com- 


ECONOMY    OF   THE    HOSPITAL.  553 

mumcation  to  the  Trustees,  from  Dr.  Tyler,  on  Sept. 
12,  announced  the  resignation  of  Dr.  Jerome  C. 
Smith  as  Second  Assistant  Physician  at  the  Asylum, 
and  the  nomination  of  Dr.  J.  Blackmer  as  his  suc- 
cessor. The  resignation  was  accepted,  and  the 
nominee  was  elected.  The  Board  voted,  on  Oct.  12, 
"  that  in  consideration  of  the  advanced  age  of  Miss 
Taylor,  and  her  long  and  faithful  services  as  nurse, 
which  are  held  in  grateful  remembrance  by  the  Trus- 
tees, she  be  relieved  from  all  duties  to  the  Hospital, 
and  that  her  wag-es  be  continued  till  further  order  of 
the  Board."  A  bequest  made  to  the  Corporation  by 
the  late  Jonathan  Phillips,  Esq.,  to  be  appropriated 
to  purposes  designated  by  him,  was  gratefully  ac- 
knowledged by  the  Trustees.  The  Committee  on 
Accounts  proposed  on  Oct.  23  the  following  vote , 
with  its  preamble,  which  were  passed  by  the  Board : 
"  Whereas  the  expenses  of  the  Hospital  have  in- 
creased largely  during  the  past  two  years,  voted 
that  the  Physicians  and  Surgeons  of  the  Institution 
be  requested  to  consider  and  to  report  to  this  Board, 
whether  patients  cannot  be  treated  under  its  present 
system  of  administration  at  a  less  expense,  and  with 
equally  satisfactory  results."  Prompted  by  this  vote, 
Dr.  Shaw  communicated  to  the  Trustees,  on  Dec.  9, 
a  report  of  a  sub-committee  of  the  Medical  Board  as 
an  answer   to  certain  inquiries  concerning  the  econ- 

70 


554  ORGANIZATION    FOR    1861. 

omy  of  the  institution.  This  report  was  referred  to 
the  Committee  on  Accounts.  Messrs.  Eogers  and 
Greenough,  as  a  Committee,  were  instructed  to  con- 
sider and  report  whether  any  and  what  changes  are 
desirable  in  the  rules  and  regulations  of  the  Hospital 
and  Asylum.  Messrs.  Bullard  and  Beebe  were  ap- 
pointed a  Committee  to  prepare  the  annual  report 
of  the  Board ;  the  several  reports  of  the  respective 
physicians  and  officers  of  the  institution,  which  were 
presented  on  Jan.  11  and  Jan.  16,  1861,  being  re- 
ferred to  them.  A  report  was  made  by  the  Com- 
mittee and  accepted  by  the  Board,  that,  under  existing 
circumstances,  no  change  should  at  present  be  made 
in  the  terms  of  admission  to  the  Hospital.  The  Com- 
mittee on  the  rules  and  regulations  asked  for  and 
received  further  time. 

The  annual  report  of  the  Board  for  1860,  with  the 
accompanying  documents,  was  laid  before  the  Cor- 
poration at  its  annual  meeting,  on  Jan.  23,  1861. 
All  the  officers  of  the  Corporation  during  the  last 
year  were  re-elected  for  the  year  ensuing,  except  that 
Dr.  Samuel  G.  Howe  was  appointed,  in  place  of  Mr. 
Thomas  Lamb,  as  one  of  the  Trustees  on  the  part 
of  the  Commonwealth.  In  the  organization  of  the 
Board  of  Trustees,  at  its  first  meeting,  on  Feb.  10, 
Mr.  Rogers  was  re-elected  Chairman,  Mr.  Greenough, 
for  the  Committee  of  the  old  Board,  on  the  revisal  of 


REPORT    FOR    1860.  555 

the  rules  and  regulations  for  the  Hospital  and  the 
Asylum,  reported,  recommending  certain  changes 
and  additions.  The  Board  accepted  the  report,  and 
adopted  its  recommendations.  Mr.  N.  H.  Emmons 
communicated  to  the  Board  his  resignation  as  a  Trus- 
tee. The  same  was  accepted,  and  thanks  were 
returned  to  him  for  his  valuable  services  in  that 
capacity.  Mr.  J.  Amory  Davis  was  then  elected,  by 
ballot,  to  fill  the  vacancy  in  the  Board.  The  Boards 
of  Consultation,  of  Visiting  Physicians  and  Surgeons, 
and  all  the  officers  of  the  Asylum  and  Hospital,  were 
unchanged,  save  that  Mrs.  Sarah  L.  Gallison  having 
resigned  the  office  of  Matron  of  the  Hospital,  her 
resignation  was  accepted,  with  a  continuance  of  her 
salary  through  the  current  quarter.  Dr.  Shaw  was 
requested  to  consult  with  the  Chairman  relative  to  a 
proper  person  for  Matron.  The  Standing  Committees 
were  appointed,  and  the  Visiting  Committees  were 
arranged  for  the  year. 

The  report  for  the  previous  year,  1860,  is  very 
elaborate,  and  contains  matter  of  much  interest.  The 
expenses  of  both  departments  for  the  year  had  been 
$110,329.16  ;  while  the  receipts  had  been  |91,550.66, 
accruing  from  the  ordinary  sources.  In  addition  to 
other  general  funds,  there  had  been  an  extra  dividend 
of  115,000  from  the  Hospital  Life  Insurance  Com- 
pany, without  which  there  would  have  been  a  great 


556  FINANCES    OF   THE    INSTITU'iION. 

deficiency  of  means.  The  Corporation  had,  up  to 
this  time,  received  from  that  insurance  company  since 
its  establishment,  according  to  the  provisions  of  its 
charter,  $231,687.50,  being  "the  most  munificent  of 
all  its  munificent  benefactors."  The  cost  of  the  main- 
tenance of  1,137  free  patients  at  the  Hospital,  for  an 
aggregate  of  5,685  weeks,  had  been  $36,148.06  ;  of 
which  amount,  after  deducting  the  income  from 
endowments  and  subscriptions  for  free  beds,  there 
remained  $18,955.69  to  be  charged  to  the  general 
funds  of  the  Corporation.  The  average  cost  per  week 
of  a  patient  at  the  Asylum,  $6.58  ;  at  the  Hospital, 
$6.42.  The  unproductive  property  of  the  institution 
in  land  and  buildings  is  estimated  at  $607,209.99, 
the  productive  property  being  $258,330.36.  A  leg- 
acy had  been  received  during  the  year  of  $10,000, 
for  the  support  of  free  beds  at  the  Hospital,  by  the 
will  of  the  late  Hon.  Jonathan  Phillips,  who  had 
been  connected  with  the  institution  as  a  Trustee  and 
Vice-President  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century. 

Mr.  William  I.  Bowditch  had  made  a  donation  of 
$274.25,  being  the  amount  of  his  bill  for  valuable 
professional  services.  The  purchase  of  five  acres  of 
land  adjoining  the  Asylum  estate  secures  the  premises 
from  intrusion  and  extends  the  facilities  for  the  out- 
door exercise  of  patients.  Plans  were  in  preparation 
for  a  Cottage,  a  suitable  building,  felt  to  be  now  very 


DR.    SHAw's    REPORT.  557 

necessary,  for  imbecile  female  patients.  The  Com- 
mittee express  in  high  terms  their  sense  of  the  fidel- 
ity and  value  of  the  services  of  the  heads  and  of  the 
subordinate  officers  of  the  Asylum  and  the  Hospital, 
and  acknowledge  thankfully  the  labors  of  Dr.  S.  L. 
Abbot,  who,  as  Physician  to  out-patients,  had  adminis- 
tered to  4,271  persons  during  the  year.  The  resig- 
nation of  Miss  Eebecca  Taylor,  "  who  has  efficiently 
and  faithfully  performed  the  duties  of  nurse  in  the 
Hospital  for  thirty-four  years,  and  to  more  than  four 
thousand  persons,"  is  noticed,  with  the  remark  that 
"  she  has  won  the  gratitude  and  afi'ection  of  the 
patients,  and  the  cordial  regard  of  all  who  know  her, 
by  her  gentle  manners  and  truly  Christian  life."  The 
provision  made  for  this  excellent  woman  has  been 
already  noticed.  The  Treadwell  Library,  for  con- 
sultation, contained  2,534  volumes.  There  had  been 
in  the  Hospital  since  it  was  opened  23,351  patients, 
and  in  the  Asylum  4,702.  Nearly  half  of  these  in 
each  department  had  been  discharged  well. 

By  Dr.  Shaw's  report  it  appeared  that  the  whole 
number  of  patients  in  the  Hospital  for  the  year 
had  been  1,394,  of  whom  1,240  had  been  admitted 
during  that  time:  1,137  had  been  wholly  free.  Of 
the  patients,  555  were  from  Ireland.  No  applicant 
whose  case  was  suitable  for  treatment  had  been 
rejected,  and  no  one  had  been  refused  admission 
on  account  of  inability  to  pay  board. 


558  DR.  Tyler's  report. 

Dr.  Tyler  reports  that  121  new  patients  had  been 
received  into  the  Asylum  during  the  year,  and  that 
187  remained  at  its  close.  Holding  in  the  reserve  of 
a  sacred  confidence  many  of  the  experiences  and  inci- 
dents of  his  professional  duties,  he  gives  expression 
to  some  general  and  useful  suggestions.  Recognizing 
the  fact  that  insanity,  in  any  given  case,  is  a  sad 
experience,  and  brings  a  crushing  sorrow  upon  the 
family  of  the  afilicted  one,  he  says  it  by  no  means 
follows  that  all  the  experience  of  an  Asylum  is  of 
a  gloomy  character.  The  necessity  and  expediency 
of  a  separation  from  home  and  friends  having  been 
deliberately  admitted,  in  spite  of  all  the  yearnings, 
reproaches,  misgivings,  and  imaginary  apprehensions 
that  come  with  the  effecting  it,  there  is  still  another 
side  to  the  experience.  A  glimmer  of  something  like 
light  comes  where  all  has  been  darkness.  Removal 
from  the  scenes  and  associations  of  the  origin  of  the 
disease,  the  regularity  and  method  of  Asylum  life, 
diversion  of  thought,  the  sense  of  being  cared  for 
wisely  and  kindly,  gradually  work  their  blessed  in- 
fluence. When  restoration  in  its  processes  and  its 
results  is  realized,  it  brings  with  it  a  clear  comfort 
and  an  intensity  of  happiness.  There  are  resources 
of  peace,  relief,  and  enjoyment  also,  for  those  for 
whom  there  is  no  reasonable  hope  of  recovery.  They 
appreciate  the  method,  the  comfort,  the  amenities  of 


ASYLUM    EXPERIENCES.  559 

the  house,  its  system  and  routine  ;  they  are  observant 
of  their  dress  and  appearance,  and  the  furnishings 
of  their  rooms  ;  they  enjoy  their  walks,  drives,  and 
amusements,  and  the  interchange  from  solitude  to 
companionship.  Many  of  these  regard  the  Asylum 
almost  with  reverence,  and  are  alway  on  the  side  of 
order  in  a  time  of  murmuring.  Such  patients  are 
more  than  an  offset  to  their  antipodes  in  faith  and 
feeling,  and  so  are  sources  of  benefit  to  others.  Those 
who  are  under  strong  and  grotesque  delusions,  in 
their  own  fixed  belief,  —  kings,  prophets,  the  world's 
benefactors,  inventors,  deities  even,  —  if  not  seriously 
disputed,  enjoy  themselves  and  amuse  their  fellows, 
in  the  complacency  of  their  fancies  and  plans.  If 
imagination  can  invest  with  wealth  and  power,  the 
Asylum  has  nabobs  whose  wealth  and  possessions  are 
unmatched  by  any  of  the  princes  or  potentates  of  the 
earth.  All  the  passing  trains  of  cars  are  carrying 
their  goods,  and  the  ships  on  all  oceans  are  doing 
their  traffic.  The  pitiable  victims  of  hallucination 
who  torture  themselves  into  despair,  of  course,  must 
not  be  forgotten ;  nor  is  it  wise  to  dwell  upon  their 
miseries.  The  querulous  and  the  perverse  are  to  be 
borne  with,  neither  encouraged  nor  roughly  with- 
stood. What  the  officers  and  attendants  of  an 
Asylum  must  be  to  meet  the  demands  of  a  charge 
covering  all  these  and  many  other  workings  of  dis- 


560  ASYLUM    EXPERIENCES. 

ease,  it  needs  no  full  rehearsal  of  qualities  to  be  set 
before  an  intelligent  mind.  Fidelity  and  kindness 
are  the  laws  of  the  house.  Patients  taken  away  un- 
cured^  and  employes  discharged  for  unfitness,  are 
the  sources  of  all  the  malign  reports  about  a  well- 
ordered  Asylum.  Those  who  are  thoroughly  re- 
covered are  always  enthusiasts  in  their  praise  and 
gratitude.  An  early  resort  to  the  Asylum  in  every 
case  of  insanity,  and  a  patient  delay  till  the  cure  is 
thorough  and  confirmed,  before  removal,  are  the 
prime  conditions  of  benefit. 

Dr.  Dio  Lewis  had  spent  much  time  during  the 
year  in  introducing  his  new  system  of  gymnastics 
for  classes  in  both  sides  of  the  Asylum,  with  great 
delight  for  the  practitioners  and  the  by-standers. 
Among  the  ladies  there  is  an  enthusiastic  interest 
in  "  fancy-work."  They  contribute  many  valuable 
articles  to  charity-fairs.  A  generous  friend  had  sent 
them  two  hundred  dollars  for  the  purchase  of  .ma- 
terials. Dr.  Tyler,  after  stating  that  the  political  and 
social  excitements  of  a  most  disturbed  and  startling 
year  of  time  had  all  received  attention  in  the  Asylum, 
slyly  adds^  that  they  "  had  been  commented  upon 
with  as  much  interest  and  perhaps  as  wisely  as  in 
the  great  world  outside  of  us."  Many  of  the  patients 
had  attended  entertainments  in  the  city,  and  more 
still    had    been    gratified    by    concerts,    games,  and 


DEATH    OF    MR.    BOWDITCH.  561 

lectures  within  the  walls.  Regattas  and  sleigh-rides 
yielded  their  delights. 

Provision  was  made  by  the  Trustees,  at  their  meet- 
ing on  Feb.  20,  for  the  printing  of  five  hundred  copies 
of  the  Rules  and  Regulations  in  their  amended  form. 
At  the  meeting  on  March  31,  the  Board  received  a 
donation  of  $500  for  the  purchase  of  books  for  the 
patients  in  both  branches  of  the  institution.  Grateful 
thanks  were  returned  for  the  gift,  and  its  proper  use 
was  referred  to  the  consideration  of  a  Committee. 
Plans,  specifications,  and  an  estimate  of  cost  for  a 
new  cottage  for  female  patients  at  the  Asylum,  were 
laid  before  this  meeting  by  a  Committee.  The 
Board  approved  and  adopted  the  same,  and  appointed 
Messrs.  Rogers,  Bullard,  and  Greenough  a  Building 
Committee,  with  full  powers,  up  to  the  limit  of  an 
outlay  of  132,000. 

At  the  quarterly  meeting  of  the  whole  Board,  held 
at  the  Asylum  on  April  17,  the  death  of  Mr.  Na- 
thaniel I.  Bowditch,  Vice-President  of  the  Corpo- 
ration, was  announced.  The  following  resolutions 
offered  by  Mr.  Rogers  were  unanimously  adopted :  — 

''Resolved,  That  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts General  Hospital  have  heard  with  unfeigned  sorrow 
of  the  decease,  on  yesterday  evening,  of  Nathaniel  Ingersoll 
Bowditch,  Esquire,  its  respected  Vice-President. 

''Resolved,  That  his  long  connection  with  this  institution, 

71 


562  DEATH    OF    MR.    BOWDITCH. 

as  Secretary,  Trustee,  Chairman  of  the  Board,  and  Vice- 
President,  extending  through  a  period  of  thirty -five  years  ; 
the  untiring  devotion  of  all  the  faculties  of  his  mind  and 
heart  to  the  promotion  of  its  interests ;  his  fidelity,  intelli- 
gence, ability,  patience,  and  firmness  in  the  discharge  of 
duty  ;  his  gentle,  joyous,  and  modest  demeanor,  at  all  times 
and  under  all  circumstances,  so  peculiarly  remarkable  in  him  ; 
his  sympathy  with  suffering  and  his  many  noble  and  gener- 
ous acts  for  its  alleviation,  so  characteristically  performed, 
and  so  beneficial  and  grateful  to  those  who  were  the  subjects 
of  them, — in  short,  his  whole  character,  moral  and  in- 
tellectual, constantly  developing  and  maturing,  and  his 
whole  life  always  growing  wiser  and  better  and  more  useful 
to  the  last,  have  won  for  him  the  respect,  admiration,  and 
love  of  all  the  members  of  the  successive  Boards  of  Trus- 
tees of  this  Corporation,  and  of  the  Physicians  and  Surgeons 
and  other  ofiicers  who,  from  time  to  time,  have  been  con- 
nected with  it,  and  demand  from  us  this  tribute  of  regard 
for  his  memory. 

'^  Jiesolved,  That  this  Board,  as  a  mark  of  respect  for  the 
character  and  services  of  its  late  Vice-President,  will  attend 
his  funeral  in  a  body,  provided  the  same  be  in  accordance 
with  the  feelings  of  the  family. 

^^  liesolved,  That  we  sympathize  deeply  with  the  family 
of  our  deceased  friend  in  the  severe  dispensation  of  Provi- 
dence which  has  fallen  upon  them,  and  respectfully  tender 
to  them  this  token  of  our  sorrow  and  regard. 

"  These  resolutions  to  be  entered  on  the  records,  and  a 
certified  copy  of  them  to  be  transmitted  to  the  family  of  the 
deceased." 

In  a  volume  of  which  this  truly  excellent  and  much 
loved  man  was  the  author,  and  the   present  repro- 


TRIBUTE    TO    MR.    BOWDITCH.  563 

duction  of  which  was  provided  for  by  a  liberal  be- 
quest in  his  last  will,  it  is  bat  right  that  he  himself 
should  find  a  special  commemoration.  The  preced- 
ing pages  from  his  pen  will  be  evidence  enough  to 
a  thoughtful  reader  of  the  love  which  he  bore  this 
institution ;  of  his  painstaking  in  dealing  with  its 
history ;  of  his  grateful  estimate  of  every  service 
which  it  received,  from  its  origin  to  its  maturity,  from 
the  professional  skill  and  fidelity  of  its  officers,  and 
from  the  generosity  and  munificence  of  its  bene- 
factors. He  labored  to  trace  out  and  authenticate 
every  fact  which  formed  its  annals.  He  acquainted 
himself  with  all  the  incidental  matters  which  marked 
its  development.  He  was  jealously  watchful  for  its 
good  repute,  and  resolved  that  it  should  have  no 
other  repute.  He  kept  its  claims  for  the  supply  and 
enlargement  of  its  resources  before  a  community 
whose  respect  for  him  was  an  additional  motive  for 
listening  to  the  cause  which  he  pleaded.  He  directly 
solicited  the  gifts  of  others,  and  tried  to  conceal  his 
own.  And  this,  it  might  almost  be  said,  was  but  the 
lesser  part  of  what  Mr.  Bowditch  did  for  the  Massa- 
chusetts General  Hospital ;  for  he  might  have  done 
it  all  outside  of  the  walls  of  its  spacious  edifices.  It 
may  be  added,  without  risking  any  extravagance  in 
the  statement,  that  during  most  of  the  thirty-five 
years  of  his  official  connection  with  the  institution  no 


564  TRIBUTE    TO    MR.    BOWDITCH. 

officer  within  or  without  its  walls  was  more  heartily, 
laboriously,  and  effectively  engaged  than  he  was  in 
promoting  its  objects,  or  was  more  thoroughly  and 
minutely  acquainted  with  all  that  occurred  in  it. 
The  nurses  and  the  patients  came  to  know  him  best 
through  his  sympathies  and  his  tender  solicitude, 
and  through  a  thousand  kindly  offices  of  thoughtful 
ministration,  by  gentle  words,  by  the  toy  put  into  the 
hand  of  the  little  wondering  child,  crippled  or  lan- 
guishing on  its  bed ;  by  the  rosebud,  the  nosegay, 
or  the  luscious  garden  fruit  offered  to  a  sufferer,  in 
whom  gratitude  created  the  appreciation  of  the  un- 
wonted luxury. 

Mr.  Bowditch  was  born  in  Salem,  June  17,  1805, 
a  son  of  the  eminent  Nathaniel  Bowditch,  LL.D., 
whose  genius  in  mathematical  and  nautical  science, 
while  it  gave  him  a  world-wide  fame,  places  him 
among  the  greatest  men  of  our  Continent.  The  son 
graduated  with  high  rank  at  Harvard  College  in  1822, 
and  at  once  entered  upon  the  study  of  the  law  in  the 
office  of  the  late  Benjamin  E.  Nichols,  Esq.,  —  then 
residing  in  Salem,  and  himself  a  generous  benefactor 
of  this  institution.  The  family  having  removed  to 
Boston,  Mr.  Bowditch  entered  the  law-office  of  the 
late  Hon.  William  Prescott  and  Franklin  Dexter, 
Esq.,  with  the  latter  of  whom  Mr.  Bowditch  was  for 
a  short  time   a  partner   in  business.     He  was  very 


TRIBUTE    TO    MR.    BOWDITCH.  565 

soon  drawn  into  that  specialty  of  his  profession, 
"  conveyancing,"  for  which  he  had  a  pecuUar  taste 
and  aptitude,  and  in  the  pursuit  and  practice  of 
which  he  obtained  a  distinction  in  Boston  which 
made  him  the  supreme  authority  in  tracing,  verifying, 
and  transferring  the  titles  of  parcels  of  real  estate. 
No  careful  man  who  proposed  to  buy  or  to  take  a 
mortgage  on  such  property  thought  he  had  done  his 
full  duty  to  himself  unless  he  had  the  warrant  of  Mr. 
Bowditch.  He  was  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the 
voluminous  contents  of  the  Registry  of  Deeds  for  the 
county,  and  his  own  iron  safe  was  crowded  with  fifty- 
five  autograph  folios,  of  five  hundred  pages  each,  of 
abstracts  of  titles,  of  copied  instruments  and  carefully 
drawn  plans  of  original  and  subdivided  estates  under 
their  successive  owners.  As  parcels  of  land  became 
of  enhanced  value  in  the  city,  inches  became  of  impor- 
tance in  the  measurement ;  and  the  owner  of  an  estate 
was  inclined  to  great  precision  or  over-precision  in 
his  claims  in  fractions.  The  writer  of  these  lines 
heard  Mr.  Bowditch  once  pleasantly  remark,  in  refer- 
ence to  some  of  these  elastic  measurements,  that  he 
should  be  satisfied  with  the  fortune  which  would  accrue 
from  the  actual  sale  of  the  supposititious  inches  of 
territory  specified  in  deeds,  beyond  the  actual  surface 
of  the  soil  in  the  city.  His  fame  as  an  accurate  inves- 
tigator and  conveyancer  came   to   the  knowledge  of 


566  TRIBUTE    TO    MR.    BOWDITCH. 

Lord  Chancellor  Lyndhurst,  and  drew  from  him  a 
high  certification.  His  special  acquisitions  in  con- 
nection with  his  legal  training  were  drawn  upon  in 
very  important  cases,  in  which  he  was  summoned  for 
testimony  or  an  opinion  by  the  Legislature  and  the 
City  Council. 

A  volume  which  bears  the  name  of  Mr.  Bowditch 
as  its  compiler,  and  which  appeared  in  three  editions, 
successively  increasing  in  size,  —  so  that  the  third 
edition  contains  seven  times  as  many  pages  as  the 
first,  —  is  unique  in  our  literature.  It  involved  in- 
credible labor  and  research,  and  is  a  marvellous  wit- 
ness to  the  thoroughness  and  fidelity  of  his  devotion 
to  his  special  profession.  The  volume  was  not  put 
on  sale,  the  copies  of  it  being  given  by  the  author 
privately  to  his  friends  as  a  pleasant  token  of  his 
personal  regard,  and  to  public  libraries  and  institu- 
tions.    I  copy  from  the  third  edition,  now  before  me, 

.   .  .  * 

containing  nearly  eight   hundred    octavo  pages,  and 

printed  in  1861 :  the  title  and  motto  are  as  follows  :  — 
"  Suffolk  Surnames.     By  N.  I.  Bowditch. 

"A  Name !    If  the  party  had  a  voice, 
What  mortal  would  be  a  Bugg  by  choice  ?  "  —  Hood. 

The  dedication  is  "  To  the  Memory  of  A.  Shurt, 
'  The  Father  of  American  Conveyancing,'  whose 
name  is  associated  alike  with  my  daily  toilet  and  my 
daily  occupation." 


TRIBUTE    TO    MR.    BOWDITCH.  567 

The  work  is  a  direct  result  of  his  investigations 
in  the  Suffolk  Registry  of  Deeds.  The  first  edition 
appeared  in  1857 ;  the  second,  enlarged,  in  1858. 
The  prefaces  contain  much  interesting  historical  mat- 
ter relating  to  the  Records  of  Suffolk  County,  and 
much  curious  information  on  the  general  subject  of 
names,  and  the  bibliographical  sources  on  which  the 
author  drew,  in  the  expansion  of  his  work  far  beyond 
its  original  design.  There  is  a  vast  deal  of  instruc- 
tion and  humor  to  be  found  in  the  volume,  more 
than  any  one  would  imagine  could  come  from  an 
arrangement  of  the  classification  and  derivation  of 
names.  It  needed,  however,  the  compiler's  own 
charming  fancy  and  subtile  wit  to  make  so  much  of 
his  theme  and  materials. 

The  reader  will  peruse,  with  full  appreciation  and 
sympathy,  this  closing  portion  of  Mr.  Bowditch's 
preface :  — 

"I  will  conclude  with  a  few  words  of  'personal  expla- 
nation.' I  was  born  in  1805.  Of  a  vigorous  frame  and 
active  habits,  I  enjoyed  for  fifty  years  almost  uninterrupted 
health.  During  the  summer  months,  I  seldom  omitted  a 
daily  swim  in  Charles  Eiver ;  and  the  coldest  weather  of 
winter  rarely  induced  me  to  resort  to  an  outside  garment. 
In  1835,  on  a  bridal  tour,  I  visited  Niagara,  and  swam 
across  that  river,  below  the  Falls,  on  two  successive  days  ; 
and  once,  when  the  thermometer  was  at  zero,  the  gentlemen 
who  had  gathered  around  the  fire  in   an  insurance  office  in 


568  TRIBUTE    TO    MR.    BOWDITCH. 

Boston  proposed,  as  I  entered  the  room,  to  subscribe  to  buy 
me  an  overcoat,  because,  as  they  said,  it  made  them  cold  to 
look  at  me.  At  fifty,  however,  I  ceased  to  be  a  young  man  ; 
and  my  dress  was  no  longer  such  as  to  exert  a  chilling  in- 
fluence over  my  friends.  In  February,  1859,  I  slipped  upon 
the  ice,  but  did  not  fall ;  and  I  supposed  that  I  had  escaped 
with  merely  a  slight  sprain,  and  the  laugh  of  the  bystanders. 
I  had,  however,  injured  the  head  of  the  thigh  bone  ;  and  the 
result  was  a  gradually  increasing  lameness.  In  June  I  re- 
moved to  my  summer  residence  in  Brookline.  Here,  in  an 
apartment  curtained  by  forest  trees,  I  sat,  day  after  day, 
week  after  week,  a  prisoner ;  my  sole  occupation  being  the 
collection  and  arrangement  of  the-  materials  for  the  present 
edition,  and  the  laborious  preparation  of  the  Index.  On 
Aug.  2,  a  visit  was  made  by  my  attending  surgeons.  I 
arose  to  receive  them  ;  and  in  the  effort  to  open  the  drawer 
of  a  small  writing-table,  which  was  partly  behind  me,  I 
pulled  it  out  so  that  it  fell  upon  the  floor.  From  this  slight 
cause,  a  severe  fracture  of  the  thigh  occurred  while  I  was 
standing  up.  I  have  been  thenceforth  condemned  to  a  state 
of  horizontal  meditation,  which  must  last  as  long  as  I  live. 
Twice  already  have  I  here  seen  the  foliage  of  summer  give 
place  to  the  snows  of  winter.  My  misfortune  has  received 
every  alleviation  which  science  could  suggest,  or  the  kind- 
ness of  family  and  friends  bestow  ;  but  my  bodily  pain  and 
weariness  soon  made  some  fixed  employment  almost  indis- 
pensable. I  accordingly  commenced  the  printing  of  this 
work  in  the  autumn  of  1859  ;  and  it  has  enabled  me  to 
attain  a  state  of  cheerful  discomfort. 

Until  my  confinement,  I  had  never  permitted  my  mus- 
tache and  beard  to  grow  :  they  are  now  of  a  truly  patriarchal 
length  and  whiteness.  Had  my  book  been  a  grave,  philo- 
sophical  treatise,  my  head,  with   these  hairy  appendages   of 


TRIBUTE    TO    MR.    BOWDITCH.  569 

wisdom,  would  have  made  for  it  a  most  appropriate  frontis- 
piece. But,  considering  its  light  and  lively  character,  1  have 
preferred  a  retrospective  view  of  my  face.  The  engraving 
is  from  a  miniature  painted  by  a  British  artist,  while  on  a 
professional  visit  to  this  country,  about  twenty  years  ago. 
Truth  compels  me  to  admit  that  no  one  recognizes  me 
through  this  disguise  of  youth.* 

"If  my  volume  shall  sometimes  dispel  the  cloud  of  care  or 
thought  from  the  brow  of  manhood,  or  call  forth  a  smile 
upon  the  face  of  youth  and  beauty,  I  may  perhaps  hope,  if 
not  for  the  sympathy,  at  least  for  the  indulgence,  of  my 
readers." 


This  preface  bears  date,  "  Brookline,  Mass.,  Febru- 
ary, 1861."  The  writer,  who  had  borne  his  severe 
and  protracted  sufferings  with  Christian  patience,  sus- 
tained by  Christian  hope,  was  released  on  the  16th 
of  April  following.  Those  who  were  privileged  to 
visit  him  in  his  cheerful  chamber  will  ahvays  remem- 
ber his  sweet  smile  of  welcome,  the  resignation  of  his 
spirit,  and  his  lively  interest  in  the  nobler  concerns  of 
the  world  without.  There  was  a  curious  satisfaction 
—  associated  with  his  long  series  of  visits  to  other 
sufferers  in  the  Hospital  —  with  vs^hich  he  drew  the 
attention  of  his  visitors  to  the  ingenious  devices  and 

*  There  is  an  excellent  likeness,  in  photograph,  of  Mr.  Bowditch,  in  the 
Trustees'  room  at  tlie  Hospital,  the  gift  of  Mrs.  Bowditch.  This,  as  having 
"  the  appendages  of  wisdom,"  would  have  been  given  by  preference  in  this 
volume,  had  not  the  subject  of  it  made  his  own  choice. 

72 


570  EFFECT    OF    THE    CIVIL    WAR. 

mechanism  of  the  couch  on  which  he  lay,  for  raising 
him  and  affording  slight  changes  of  position.  He 
had  another  resource  on  that  bed  of  pain  besides  the 
revising  of  his  book  of  Names.  He  bore  in  remem- 
brance very  many  who  were  poor,  in  sorrow,  or 
under  trial ;  loving  to  be  told  of  any  new  ones  on 
the  Bethesda  list  who  were  strangers  to  him,  that 
he  might  send  to  them  regularly  the  tokens  of  his 
sympathy  and  bounty.  His  philanthropy  was  of 
the  widest,  his  humanity  was  of  the  purest  and 
the  fullest. 

In  accordance  of  purpose  with  his  wife,  Mr.  Bow- 
ditch,  in  1860,  gave  to  Harvard  College  the  sum  of 
seventy  thousand  dollars,  for  the  establishment  of 
sixteen  scholarships,  four  for  each  class,  of  an  annual 
value  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  each. 


At  the  meeting  of  the  Trustees  on  April  17,  the 
Committee  on  Repairs  were  instructed  to  procure 
plans  for  laying  out  and  improving  the  grounds,  and 
for  the  better  drainage  of  the  Asylum.  It  is  interest- 
ing now  to  note  how  the  alarming  condition  and 
prospects  of  the  country  at  the  opening  of  the  civil 
war  are  recognized  by  an  entry  on  the  records  at 
the  meeting  of  the  Trustees  on  April  24.  The  Com- 
mittee appointed  to  contract  for  the  new  "Cottage" 


SOLDIERS    AT   THE    HOSPITAL.  571 

at  the  Asylum  reported  that  the  proposals  in  their 
hands  for  the  work  were  within  the  estimates.  But 
they  hesitated,  without  further  conference  with  the 
Board,  to  proceed  with  the  work  "  under  the  circum- 
stances now  existing  in  the  country."  "  After  a  full 
discussion  of  the  subject,"  the  Board,  in  strong  faith, 
gave  the  Committee  authority  to  go  on  with  the 
work. 

The  Board,  at  its  meeting  on  May  5,  were  informed 
by  the  Treasurer  that  the  late  Mr.  Bowditch  had  in 
his  will  bequeathed  to  the  Hospital  $5,000  to  con- 
stitute a  "  Wooden-leg  Fund,"  and  $2,000  as  a  fund 
for  the  republication  of  the  History  of  the  Hospital. 
The  Treasurer  was  directed  to  establish  the  two 
funds  accordingly.  At  the  same  meeting,  the  Secre- 
tary was  directed  to  communicate  to  His  Excellency 
Governor  Andrew  the  following  vote,  passed  in  view 
of  the  pending  civil  war  :  — 

"  That  the  Trustees  of  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital 
assure  the  Executive  of  the  Commonwealth  that,  in  the 
event  of  any  diseased  or  wounded  soldiers  being  returned  to 
this  city,  they  shall  consider  it  their  duty  and  privilege  to 
extend  to  them  all  the  succor  and  relief  that  may  be  within 
their  power." 

A  communication  from  Governor  Andrew  acknowl- 
edging this  vote  was  received  by  the  Board  on  May 
19  ;   and  by  a  second,  subsequent  letter  to  Dr.  Shaw, 


572  VOTES    OF   TRUSTEES. 

on  Aug.  27,  he  expressed  his  high  appreciation  of 
the  attentions  rendered  by  the  Hospital  to  returned 
soldiers. 

The  House  Pupils  having  petitioned  for  leave  to 
board  in  the  Hospital,  the  Trustees,  by  vote  on  Aug. 
27,  granted  permission  until  further  order.     A  new 
form   of    bond,   with   reference   to    sureties,   for  the 
admission   of  patients   to   the  Asylum,   having  been 
found  desirable,  Mr.  Lowell,  to  whom  the  subject  had 
been   committed,   reported    a  form    at  this   meeting, 
which    was  adopted.     Mr.  E..    M.    Mason,   on  Sept. 
10,   resigned   his   place    on    the    Board,  on    account 
of    intended    absence    abroad.     The    Secretary    was 
directed  to   communicate   to  him  the  thanks  of  his 
associates  for  his   long   and  valuable  services.     The 
Treasurer    was    authorized     to    borrow    the    money 
needed  for  the  construction  of  the  new  "  Cottage  "  at 
the  Asylum.    On  Nov.  17,  the  Chairman,  Mr.  Rogers, 
having  previously  announced   to  the  Board  that  he 
would    be    unavoidably   absent   from    Boston   during 
much  of  the  coming  season,  in  attendance  at  Wash- 
ington as  a  member  of  the  National  Sanitary  Com- 
mission, the  Board  elected  Mr.  Bullard  as  Chairman 
pro  tern,  while  Mr.  Rogers  should  be  absent.     Meas- 
ures were  instituted  by  the   Board,  on  Dec.    15,  for 
disposing  the  boundary  line  between  the  flats  belong- 
ing to  the  Corporation   and  those  belonging  to  the 


DONATION    FROM    MR.    APPLETON.  573 

heirs  of  the  late  Dr.  Parkman.  Messrs.  Wiggles- 
worth  and  Davis  were  appointed  the  Committee,  on 
Dec.  29,  to  prepare  the  annual  report  of  the  Board ; 
and  the  annual  reports  of  the  Treasurer  and  other 
officers,  as  presented  on  Jan.  10,  and  Jan.  15,  1862, 
were  referred  to  them.  At  the  meeting  on  Jan.  10, 
the  Treasurer  read  a  communication  from  the  Hon. 
William  Appleton  announcing  his  donation  of  $10,000 
to  be  added  to  the  "Appleton  Fund,"  for  the  as- 
sistance and  support  of  needy  curable  patients  at  the 
Asylum.  A  suitable  acknowledgment  was  made  of 
this  munificent  gift. 


574 


CHAPTER    XV. 

Feb,  5,  1862,  to  Feb.  22,  1867. 

Annual  Meeting  and  Organization  for  1862.  —  Report  for  1861. — 
Death  of  the  President,  Mr.  Appleton,  and  Tribute  to  him. — 
Invalid  Soldiers  at  the  Hospital.  —  Bequest  from  Miss  Town- 
send. —  United  States  Sanitary  Commission  ask  the  Servi'ces  of 
Dr.  Shaw  and  Dr.  Tyler.  —  Resignation  of  the  Steward  and 
Matron  of  the  Asylum.  —  Services  of  Dr.  Morrill  Wyman. — 
Legislation  on  Asylums.  —  Annual  Meeting.  —  Organization  for 
1863. — Report  for  1862. — Resignation  of  Dr.  Townsend.  —  Dr. 
Tyler's  Tribute  to  Dr.  Bell.  —  Sketch  of  him.  —  New  Cottage  for 
Males  at  the  Asylum.  —  Resignation  of  Dr.  Bacon  as  Chemist. — 
House  Pupils  to  board  at  the  Hospital.  —  Dr.  J.  C.  White  elected 
Chemist.  —  Bequest  of  John  Pickens.  —  Death  of  Dr.  Hayward. 

—  Dr.  Townsend  elected  Consulting  Physician.  —  Additional 
Surgical  House  Pupils.  —  Litigation  concerning  Bequest  of 
Miss  Loring.  —  Bequest  of  Dr.  B.  D.  Greene.  —  Hours  for  the 
Visits  of  Surgeons  and  Physicians.  — A  Surgeon  to  Out-Patients. 

—  Annual  Meeting. —  Organization  for  1864.  —  Report  for  1863. 

—  Historical  Pamphlets  presented  by  Dr.  Shaw.  —  Legacy  of 
William  Oliver.  —  Resignation  of  Secretary  Hall.  —  Election 
of  Mr.  W.  S.  Dexter.  —  Resignation  of  Dr.  Bowditch  and  Choice 
OF  Dr.  C.  Ellis  as  a  Visiting  Physician.  —  Other  Changes  among 
THE  Officers.  —  Tribute  to  Dr.  J.  B.  S.  Jackson.  —  Bequest  of  Miss 
Sever.  —  Annual  Meeting.  —  Organization  for  1865.  —  Report 
FOR  1864.  —  Death  of  J.  Amory  Davis.  —  Resignation  and  Appoint- 
ments AT  THE  Asylum.  —  Other  Resignations.  —  Annual  Meeting. 

—  Organization  for  1866.  —  Report  for  1865.  —  Important  Report 
ON  THE  Finances  AND  Circular. —  Changes  of  Officers  at  Asy- 
lum.—  Bequest  of  Dr.  Worcester.  —  A  New  Operating  Theatre. 

—  Leave  of  Absence  to  Dr.  Tyler.  —  Gift  from  Rev.  J.  Spaulding. 

—  Legacy  from  Miss  S.  Pratt.  —  Annual  Meeting.  —  Organization 
FOR  1867. — Report  for  1866.  —  Generous  Subscription.  —  Debt 
PAID.  —  Dr.  Tyler's  Report. 

The  annual   meeting    of  the   Corporation   was   held 
at  the   Hospital  on  Feb.    5,    1862.     The    following 


REPORT    FOR    1861.  575 

gentlemen  were  elected  officers  for  the  ensuing  year, 
William  Appleton,  President ;  Robert  Hooper,  Vice- 
President;  J.  T.  Stevenson,  Treasurer ;  T.  B.  Hall, 
Secretary ;  Messrs.  J.  M.  Beebe,  J.  Amory  Davis, 
W.  W.  Greenough,  George  Higginson,  John  Lowell, 
H.  B.  Eogers,  J.  C.  Wild,  and  Edward  Wiggles- 
worth,  Trustees  on  the  part  of  the  Corporation ;  and 
Messrs.  W.  S.  BuUard,  W.  J.  Dale,  Martin  Brimmer, 
and  S.  G.  Howe,  Trustees  on  the  part  of  the  Com- 
monwealth. 

The  annual  report  for  1861  estimates  the  pro- 
ductive property  of  the  Corporation  at  $307,166.05. 
The  value  of  the  property  at  Somerville  is  fixed  at 
$332,712.27;  that  of  the  Hospital  estate  in  Boston 
at  $289,347.64.  The  expenses  of  the  Hospital  have 
been  $38,954.30  ;  and  of  the  Asylum  $63,311.87,  the 
income  of  the  Corporation  having  been  $95,996.44 ; 
showing  an  excess  of  expenses  of  $6,269.73.  An 
appeal  to  our  citizens  is  recommended  for  the  pur- 
pose of  increasing  the  fund  for  free  beds  at  the  Hos- 
pital. There  had  been  admitted  to  the  Hospital  1,416 
patients;  whole  number  under  treatment  1,552;  the 
average  cost  of  each,  per  week,  being  $5.35.  Testi- 
mony is  borne  to  the  efficiency  of  the  Resident  Phy- 
sician and  other  officers.  No  case  suitable  for  treat- 
ment had  been  rejected.  The  Hospital  had  ministered 
to  the  comfort  of  many  of  our  volunteer  soldiers  who 


576  DR.  Tyler's  report. 

had  become  disabled.  The  Physician  to  out-patients 
had  treated  4,775  during  the  year.  The  Treadwell 
Library  contained  2,577  volumes.  The  Superintend- 
ent of  the  Asylum  reports  298  patients  under  treat- 
ment during  the  year,  188  remaining  at  its  close  ;  the 
average  weekly  cost  of  each  being  $6.07.  The 
Asylum  has  maintained  its  high  reputation  for  the 
fidelity  of  its  officers,  and  the  merciful  efiiciency  of 
their  work.  The  new  building  for  highly  excited 
female  patients  is  in  a  state  of  forwardness.  The 
gifts  of  J.  Bowdoin  Bradlee  and  of  William  Apple- 
ton,  and  the  bequests  of  N.  I.  Bowditch,  are  grate- 
fully mentioned  ;  and  the  tribute  of  warm  regard  to 
the  last-named  gentleman  is  renewed. 

Dr.  Shaw  repeats  his  suggestions  as  to  the  intent 
of  the  Hospital  for  the  treatment  of  curable  patients, 
rather  than  for  an  Infirmary,  and  refers  to  the  pro- 
posed City  Hospital  as  designed  to  receive  contagious 
and  incurable  cases. 

Dr.  Tyler,  in  his  report,  congratulating  himself  on 
the  progress  of  the  new  building  on  the  Asylum 
grounds,  and  giving  a  general  summary  of  the  year's 
duties,  and  gratefully  referring  to  all  the  means  of 
amusement  and  relaxation  enjoyed  by  his  large 
household,  devotes  the  rest  of  his  pages  to  a  most 
admirably  condensed  and  eloquent  statement  of  the 
experiences  of  the  country  under  the  terrible  disci- 


TRIBUTE    TO    MR.    APPLETON.  577 

pline  of  war,  with  especial  reference  to  the  effect 
of  its  exciting  events  upon  his  patients.  We  can 
recall  no  more  adequate  or  striking  picture  and  sum- 
ming up,  than  that  which  he  has  here  drawn  of  those 
days  and  scenes  of  woe.  His  devoted  predecessor, 
Dr.  Bell,  was  at  the  time  in  the  field  as  a  minister  of 
mercy  to  the  patriot  army. 

The  President  of  the  Corporation  and  the  gener- 
ous benefactor  of  the  institution,  Hon.  William  Ap- 
pleton,  having  died  on  Feb.  15,  at  Longwood,  a 
special  meeting  of  the  Corporation  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts General  Hospital,  which  had  been  duly 
notified,  was  held  at  the  Hospital  in  Boston,  on  Mon- 
day Feb.  24,  1862,  at  3*  o'clock  p.m. 

Robert  Hooper,  Esq.,  the  Vice-President,  called 
the  meeting  to  order,  and  took  the  chair. 

The  death  of  the  Hon.  William  Appleton,  late 
President  of  the  Corporation,  being  announced,  the 
following  resolutions  offered  by  the  Treasurer,  J. 
Thomas  Stevenson,  were  unanimously  adopted :  — 

^^  Resolved,  That  in  the  death  of  the  Hon.  William  Apple- 
ton  this  Corporation  has  met  with  a  great  loss.  He  was 
connected  with  the  management  of  its  affairs  for  twenty-five 
years,  always  with  a  lively  interest  in  the  promotion  of  its 
charitable  purposes.  The  institution  is  greatly  indebted  to 
his  prudent  counsels,  as  well  as  to  his  well-directed  benevo- 
lence.    His  munificent  donations  have  enabled  the  Trustees 

73 


578  •  ORGANIZATION    FOR    1862. 

to  do  much  for  the  comfort,  as  well  as  for  the  cure  of  those 
insane,  whose  limited  means  might  otherwise  have  deprived 
them  of  the  full  advantages  of  a  residence  at  the  Asylum. 
The  fund  which  he  established  for  the  assistance  of  the 
curable  insane  has  abounded  in  rich  fruits.  The  buildings 
bearing  his  name  at  Somerville,  which  were  erected  at  his 
suggestion  and  chiefly  by  his  bounty,  are  honorable  monu- 
ments both  of  his  sagacity  and  of  his  benevolence. 

"^Resolved,  That  a  copy  of  these  proceedings  be  communi- 
cated to  the  family  of  Mr.  Appleton,  with  assurances  of  the 
sympathy  of  the  members  of  this  Corporation  with  them  in 
their  bereavement,  and  of  their  appreciation  of  the  honorable 
and  Christian  character  of  the  deceased." 

A  communication  from  Edward  Wiggleswortli, 
Esq.,  was  read,  declining  to  accept  his  re-election  to 
the  office  of  Trustee,  and  it  was  voted  that  the  same 
be  referred  to  the  Board  of  Trustees. 

The  meeting  was  then  dissolved. 

Attest :  T.  B.  Hall,  Secretary. 

At  the  first  subsequent  meeting  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees,  on  Feb.  24,  1862,  Mr.  H.  B.  Rogers,  then 
absent  at  Washington,  was  re-elected  Chairman,  Mr. 
Bullard  being  chosen  to  fill  the  place  temporarily. 
A  communication  from  Mr.  Wiggleswortli,  resigning 
his  place  as  Trustee,  having  been  referred  to  the 
Board  by  the  Corporation,  the  Trustees  voted  to  him 
their  thanks  "  for  his  long,  faithful,  and  efficient 
services."      The    following     professional    gentlemen 


UNITED    STATES    SOLDIERS.  579 

were  then  elected  by  ballot  for  the  ensuing  year  : 
as  the  Board  of  Consultation  at  the  Hospital,  Drs. 
J.  Jackson,  J,  Jeffries,  E.  Reynolds,  G.  Hayward,  J. 
Homans,  and  W.  Lewis ;  as  Visiting  Physicians, 
Drs.  J.  B.  S.  Jackson,  H.  I.  Bowditch,  G.  C.  Shat- 
tuck,  A.  A.  Gould,  C.  E.  Ware,  and  F.  Minot ;  as 
Visiting  Surgeons,  Drs.  S.  D.  Townsend,  J.  Mason 
Warren,  H.  J.  Bigelow,  H.  G.  Clark,  S.  Cabot,  jun., 
and  G.  H.  Gay  ;  Dr.  B.  S.  Shaw,  Resident  Physician ; 
Dr.  S.  L.  Abbot,  Physician  to  Out-patients ;  Dr.  J. 
Bacon,  Chemist ;  Dr.  C.  Ellis,  Microscoj)ist  and  Cu- 
rator of  the  Pathological  Cabinet ;  O.  H.  Webber, 
Apothecary  ;  Harvey  Howard,  Steward  ;  Mrs.  Mary 
Wiggin,  Matron.  Dr.  J.  E.  Tyler  was  chosen  Phy- 
sician and  Superintendent  of  the  Asylum,  and  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  C.  Tyler  Steward  and  Matron.  The  Stand- 
ing Committees  of  the  Board  were  appointed,  and  the 
Visiting  Committees  were  arranged  for  the  year.  The 
thanks  of  the  Board  were  voted  to  Mrs.  N.  I.  Bow- 
ditch  for  the  gift  of  a  photograph  likeness  of  her  late 
husband,  "  whose  services  and  benefactions  are  grate- 
fully remembered  by  this  Corporation."     It  was  —    . 

"  Voted,  That  the  subject  of  proper  accommodations  in  this 
Hospital  for  the  sick  and  wounded  of  the  United  States  army 
be  referred  to  Drs.  Dale  and  Howe,  to  consider  and  report  to 
this  Board  at  an  early  meeting ;  and  in  the  mean  time  that 
Dr.  Dale  shall  have  authority  to  place  for  treatment  in  the 


580  VOTES    OF   TRUSTEES. 

Hospital  any  invalid  soldier  for  whom  there  is  suitable  room, 
the  rate  of  their  board  being  $4.50  per  week." 

Dr.  Dale  reported  at  the  next  meeting,  March 
23,— 

"That,  unless  some  extraordinary  exigency  should  occur, 
the  accommodations  now  afforded  by  this  Institution  are 
ample  for  the  present." 

A  communication  from  the  Custom-house  Collector 
of  Boston  was  received,  enclosing  a  copy  of  an  in- 
quiry from  the  Treasury  Department  at  Washington, 
relative  to  obtaining  contract  proposals  from  public 
and  private  hospitals,  for  the  accommodation  of  sick 
seamen.     Whereupon  it  was  — 

"  Voted,  That  the  Resident  Physician  be  directed  to  reply 
to  the  Collector,  that,  whilst  the  Trustees  would  be  glad  to 
receive  all  patients  for  whom  there  is  room  in  the  Hospital, 
the  organization  and  rules  of  the  Institution  and  its  relation 
to  the  City  and  State  are  such  as  to  prevent  any  contract- 
undertaking  of  the  kind  desired." 

On  May  4,  Miss  Susan  L.  Kilborn  made  a  commu- 
nication to  the  Trustees,  asking  leave  to  visit  the 
Hospital.  The  communication  was  laid  on  the  table. 
Mr.  Henry  A.  Whitney  was  elected  a  Trustee,  on 
May  18,  to  fill  the  vacancy  in  the  Board  caused  by  the 
resignation  of  Mr.  Wiggles  worth.  Mr.  Lowell,  at 
the  meeting  of  the  Board,  on  June  3,  offered  a  new 


BEQUEST    OF    MISS    TOWNSEND.  581 

Form  of  Admission  of  patients  to  the  Asylum,  made 
in  accordance  with  recent  legislation.  It  was  adopted 
by  the  Board,  He  also  submitted  a  document  rela- 
tive to  the  use  of  land  of  the  Parkman  heirs  adjoin- 
ing the  Hospital  grounds.  This  document  disclaimed 
all  rights  and  easements  being  acquired  to  the  Hos- 
pital by  the  enclosure  of  land  of  the  Parkman  heirs, 
and  the  opening  of  a  gate  upon  the  same.  The  docu- 
ment was  approved,  and  the  Treasurer  was  authorized 
to  execute  it  in  behalf  of  the  Corporation.  The  Com- 
mittee on  improvements  of  the  Asylum  grounds  were 
authorized,  on  June  3,  to  remove  the  old  cottage  as 
soon  as  the  excited  patients  were  transferred  to  the 
new  building.  Dr.  Tyler  received  permission  to 
attend  the  approaching  annual  convention  of  "  the 
Association  of  Superintendents  of  Institutions  for 
the  Insane,"  at  Providence,  —  his  expenses  to  be 
met  by  the  Board. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Board  on  July  15,  the  Chair- 
man, Mr.  Rogers,  took  his  seat,  having  returned  from 
service  at  Washington,  on  the  Sanitary  Commission. 

The  Trustees,  at  their  meeting  on  Aug.  26,  re- 
ceived the  following  letter,  of  that  date,  addressed  to 
them :  — 

"The  late  Miss  Mary  P.  Townsend,  by  her  last  will, 
authorized  us,  as  her  executors,  to  dispose  of  the  residue  and 
remainder  of  her  estate  to  such  charitable  and  public  institu- 
tions as  her  executors  may  think  meritorious. 


582  DR.    WHITTEMORE    AT    ASYLUM. 

"  In  such  residue  and  remainder  is  a  parcel  of  real  estate 
in  Hanover  Street,  in  this  city,  which  was  appraised  at 
$7,500,  after  her  decease,  and  is  now  under  lease  to  a  good 
tenant,  for  three  years  from  the  first  day  of  July  last,  at  a 
rent  of  $450  for  the  first  year,  and  $500  a  year  for  the  last 
two  years.  The  tenant  pays  the  taxes  and  keeps  the  estate 
in  repair  at  his  own  cost. 

"  We  think  we  cannot  more  exactly  fulfil  the  benevolent 
intentions  of  Miss  Townsend  in  giving  us  the  power  to  dis- 
pose of  the  residue  of  her  estate,  than  by  presenting  the 
house  in  Hanover  Street  to  the  Massachusetts  General  Hos- 
pital, as  her  gift.  Accordingly,  we  send  you  a  deed  of  it, 
and  an  assignment  of  the  lease. 

"  We  have  thought  it  best  that  the  deed  should  be  abso- 
lute and  without  limitation  ;  but  we  wish  and  earnestly  hope 
that  the  income  of  the  estate  may  hereafter  and  always  be 
appropriated  for  the  support  of  free  beds  in  the  Hospital." 
Signed  by  the  executors,  William  Minot,  and  William  Minot, 
jun. 

This  benevolent  donation  was  accepted  ;  the  Sec- 
retary being  directed  to  communicate  to  the  execu- 
tors the  sincere  thanks  of  the  Board,  and  the  Treas- 
urer to  establish  the  "  Townsend  Free  Bed  Fund," 
from  the  estate  and  its  income.  A  communication 
was  received  from  the  Surgeon-general  of  the  United 
States  army  relative  to  the  termination  of  any  con- 
tract for  board  of  United  States  soldiers  at  the  Hos- 
pital, and  their  future  removal.  Dr.  Tyler,  on  Sept. 
9,  communicated  to  the  Board  his  appointment  of 
Dr.  James  H.  Whittemore  as  Assistant  Phvsician  at 


BUST    OF    WILLIAM    APPLETON.  583 

the  Asylum,  in  place  of  Dr.  John  Blackmer,  who, 
after  two  years  of  faithful  service,  had  left,  on  his 
appointment  as  surgeon  of  the  47th  Massachusetts 
Regiment.     The  nomination  was  confirmed. 

A  communication  from  Dr.  Shaw  was  laid  before 
the  Trustees,  on  Oct.  10,  relative  to  a  request  of  the 
United  States  Sanitary  Commission  that  he  would  act 
on  a  Board  of  Special  Inspection  of  General  Hos- 
pitals of  the  army,  requiring  a  service  for  two  terms, 
of  two  weeks  each,  during  the  next  six  months.  It 
was  then  "  voted  that  leave  of  absence  be  granted  to 
Dr.  Shaw  for  the  time  and  purpose  named,  provided 
he  makes  such  arrangement  for  supplying  his  place 
during  his  absence  as  shall  be  satisfactory  to  the 
Chairman  of  this  Board." 

The  same  leave  was  granted  by  the  Board  to  Dr. 
Tyler,  on  Oct.  15,  for  the  same  purpose  and  on  the 
same  conditions. 

Dr.  Bacon,  Chemist  at  the  Hospital,  was  author- 
ized to  employ  an  assistant  in  the  performance  of  his 
duties,  in  such  way  and  at  such  time  as  he  cannot 
attend  to  them  himself,  at  an  expense  not  exceeding 
1250  annually. 

Mr.  Bullard,  for  a  Committee,  reported  on  Nov.  2 
that  a  marble  bust  of  the  late  William  Appleton  had 
been  procured  and  placed  in  the  Trustees'  Room  at 
the  Asylum. 


58-4  ANMUAL    MEETING,    1863. 

The  resignations  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Tyler,  as  Steward 
and  Matron  of  the  Asylnm,  were  received  by  the 
Board  on  Nov.  16,  and  were  accepted,  with  the 
understanding  that  the  incumbents  would  remain  in 
office  until  suitable  successors  could  be  found. 

Messrs.  Howe  and  Wild  were  appointed  on  Dec. 
28  to  prepare  the  annual  report  of  the  Board  to  the 
Corporation.  Mr.  Higginson  was  afterwards  added 
to  this  Committee,  to  whom  the  reports  of  the  Treas- 
urer and  of  the  officers  of  the  Hospital  and  Asylum, 
as  they  were  regularly  submitted,  were  referred.  At 
the  meeting  on  Jan.  21,  1863,  the  Trustees  passed  a 
vote  of  thanks  to  Dr.  Morrill  Wyman,  of  Cambridge, 
"  for  his  careful  examination  of  the  plans  of  venti- 
lation for  the  new  Cottage  for  females  at  the  Asylum  ; 
for  his  valuable  suggestions  thereon ;  and  for  the 
cordial  interest  manifested  by  him  in  the  welfare  of 
the  institution." 

Dr  Howe  and  Mr.  Lowell  were  appointed  a  Com- 
mittee, on  Feb.  4,  "  to  look  after  the  interests  of  this 
institution  in  the  proposed  legislation  on  the  subject 
of  Asylums  for  the  Insane,  now  pending  before  the 
Legislature  of  this  State." 

The  annual  meeting  of  the  Corporation  was  held 
at  the  Hospital  on  Feb.  4,  1863,  at  which  the  report 
of  the  Trustees  was  presented.  Mr.  Robert  Hooper, 
who  had  been  Vice-President,  was  chosen  President, 


SERVICES    OF    DR.    TOWNSEND.  585 

in  place  of  the  late  William  Appleton ;  Edward 
Wigglesworth  was  chosen  Vice-President ;  J.  T. 
Stevenson,  Treasurer;  and  T.  B.  Hall,  Secretary. 
Only  two  changes  were  made  in  the  Board  of  Trus- 
tees, Mr.  Henry  A.  Whitney  taking  the  place  of  Mr. 
Wigglesworth,  on  the  part  of  the  Corporation  ;  and 
Mr.  Harrison  Ritchie  taking  that  of  W.  J.  Dale,  on 
the  part  of  the  Commonwealth. 

At  the  first  meeting  of  the  Board,  on  Feb.  15,  it 
was  organized  by  the  choice  of  Mr.  H.  B.  Rogers 
as  Chairman.  A  communication  was  read  from  Dr. 
Solomon  D.  Townsend,  declining  to  be  re-elected 
one  of  the  Visiting  Surgeons  of  the  Hospital.  The 
following  resolves  were  thereupon  unanimously 
adopted :  — 

"  Resolved,  That  in  accepting  the  resignation  now  tendered 
to  them,  by  Dr.  Solomon  D.  Townsend,  the  Trustees,  in 
justice  to  him  and  to  themselves,  feel  bound  to  express  their 
high  appreciation  of  his  long,  faithful,  and  valuable  services 
in  behalf  of  this  Institution.  'Consulting  Surgeon  '  of  the 
Hospital  from  the  year  1835  to  1839,  and  'Acting  Surgeon' 
from  that  time  to  this,  a  period  of  nearly  a  quarter  of  a 
century,  he  has  daily,  without  fee  or  pecuniary  reward, 
given  a  full  share  of  his  time  and  professional  skill  to  the 
patients  committed  to  his  charge ;  and  by  his  ability,  sound 
judgment,  assiduity,  kindness,  and  consistent  and  gentle- 
manly conduct,  has,  at  all  times  during  this  long  term  of 
years,  won  the  respect  and  esteem  of  his  professional  asso- 
ciates and  of  all  the  various  Boards  of  Trustees.     In  parting 

74 


586  ORGANIZATION    FOR    1863. 

from  liim,  the  Trustees  therefore  would  offer  to  Dr.  Town- 
send  their  hearty  thanks  for  all  the  good  he  has  done  to  them 
and  the  public  in  the  past,  and  their  most  sincere  wishes  for 
his  welfare  and  happiness  in  the  future. 

"  Resolved,  That  Dr.  Townsend  be  requested  to  sit  for  his 
portrait  or  bust,  and  that  Messrs.  Kogers,  Bullard,  and 
Stevenson  be  a  Committee  to  carry  this  resolve  into  effect." 

A  communication  having  been  received  from  Dr. 
W.  J.  Dale,  announcing  that  he  had  dechned  re- 
election as  one  of  the  "  State  Trustees,"  it  was  there- 
upon — 

"  Voted,  That  the  thanks  of  the  Board  be  presented  to  Dr. 
Dale  for  his  long,  fiithful,  and  efficient  services  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Board  from  which  he  has  now  retired." 

The  elections  for  Boards  of  Consultation,  of  Visit- 
ing Physicians,  and  Visiting  Surgeons  resulted  in  the 
choice  of  all  the  members  of  those  Boards  during  the 
previous  year,  save  that  upon  the  last  named  Dr. 
Richard  ,M.  Hodges  was  chosen  to  supply  the  place 
of  Dr.  Townsend.  Dr.  Shaw  was  chosen  Resident 
Physician  of  the  Hospital ;  Dr.  Abbot,  Physician 
to  out-patients  ;  Dr.  Bacon,  Chemist ;  Dr.  C.  Ellis, 
Microscopist  and  Curator  of  the  Pathological  Cabi- 
net;  George  T.  Sears,  Apothecary;  and  Mrs.  Mary 
Wiggin,  Matron.  Dr.  Tyler  was  chosen  Superin- 
tendent  of    the   Asylum.     The    Chairman   then   ap- 


REPORT    FOR    1862.  587 

pointed  the  Standing  Committees,  and  the  Visiting 
Committees  were  arranged  for  the  year.  The  Chair- 
man and  Mr.  Lowell  were  made  a  Committee  to 
consider  and  report  upon  the  duties  of  the  Steward 
of  the  Hospital,  with  power  to  make  such  temporary 
arrangements  relative  to  that  office  as  may  be  neces- 
sary. 

The  annual  report  of  the  Trustees,  of  which  two 
thousand  copies  were  printed,  contains  references  to 
many  matters  of  interest.  The  pressure  of  the  times 
had  not  caused  any  anxiety  in  diminishing  the  in- 
come, in  increasing  the  number  of  patients,  or  abating 
the  earnestness  of  the  friends  and  officers  of  the 
institution.  There  had  been  received  and  treated 
within  the  Hospital  during  the  year  1,611  patients,  in 
addition  to  the  140  who  were  there  at  its  beffinnins:. 
There  remained  at  its  close  145.  There  had  been 
treated  4,800  out-patients.  There  had  been  received 
and  treated  at  the  Asylum  270  patients,  of  whom 
there  remained  at  the  close  of  the  year  176.  This 
whole  summing  up  presents  to  us  a  ministration  of 
mercy  in  an  impressive  form,  especially  when  we 
contemplate  the  accumulative  results  gathering  in 
the  lengthening  course  of  years.  The  gift  through 
the  executors  of  the  late  Miss  Townsend  is  a  recog- 
nition of  a  continued  liberality  which  is  expected  to 
constitute    an  item   in  every  report.      The  expenses 


588  DR.    SHAW's    REPORT. 

of  the  Hospital  were  $42,114.81  ;  the  average  week- 
ly cost  of  each  patient,  $6.04.  The  expenses  of  the 
Asylum  were  $71,823.46,  the  average  for  each 
patient  being  $7.27,  though  this  covers  some  extraor- 
dinary outlays  on  fne  grounds,  &c.  The  value  of  the 
productive  property  is  set  at  $318,397.96  ;  that  of 
the  real  estate,  —  the  Asylum,  $348,441.93,  the 
Hospital,  $280,347.64.  The  outstanding  debt  is 
$78,164.81,  incurred  by  the  purchase  of  the  Joy  and 
Woodworth  estates,  and  by  the  building  of  the  new 
cottage  for  female  patients.  An  appeal  is  suggested 
for  aid  in  removing  this  debt,  without  diminishing 
the  beneficent  work  of  the  Institution. 

Dr.  Shaw  reports  that,  though  277  applicants  had 
been  refused  as  unfit  at  the  Hospital,  no  case  suit- 
able for  treatment  had  been  rejected  for  inability  to 
pay  board.  The  capacity  of  the  Hospital  is  180 
beds.  It  had  sent  home  well,  during  the  year,  843 
patients.  There  had  been  received  and  treated  212 
United  States  soldiers,  besides  a  large  number  as  out- 
patients. Before  the  establishment  of  a  government 
mihtary  hospital  in  Boston,  such  patients  had  been 
paid  for  at  the  rate  of  $4.50  a  week.  Since  that 
time  they  had  been  free. 

Dr.  Tyler's  report  is  written  in  a  grateful  spirit 
for  the  large  additions  which  have  been  made  to  the 
comforts  and  curative  agencies  of  the  Asylum.     The 


DR.  Tyler's  report.  589 

new  edifice  for  patients  under  the  most  demonstrative 
forms  of  mental  disorder,  with  its  spacious  and  cheer- 
ful apartments,  and  the  enlarged  and  beautiful 
grounds  improved  by  Mr.  Cleveland,  are  realized  as 
blessings  already.  The  war,  the  distractions  and 
miseries  of  which  are  more  and  more  daily  felt,  has 
not  yet  caused  any  appreciable  increase  of  insanity. 
Seventeen  of  the  attendants  of  the  Asylum  had  en- 
listed in  the  army,  and  Dr.  Blackmer  had  gone  into 
service  as  surgeon.  Dr.  Tyler  repeats,  as  with  the 
force  of  his  increased  experience,  that  insanity  in 
almost  all  its  forms  is  curable,  and  generally  is  so 
according  to  the  promptness  with  which  it  is  put 
under  treatment ;  in  its  incipient  stages  its  subtle 
approaches  and  vague  manifestations  being  too  often 
slighted  till  the  mischief  is  confirmed.  The  decease 
during  the  year  of  the  Hon.  William  Appleton  and 
Dr.  Luther  V.  Bell  is  regarded  by  Dr.  Tyler  as 
properly  calling  forth  from  him  a  tender  reference  to 
their  services  and  virtues.  They  had  been  so  long 
and  harmoniously  associated  as  officers  in  this 
Institution,  —  the  one,  by  his  sympathy  and  large 
pecuniary  gifts  and  administrative  skill,  contributing 
so  munificently  and  wisely  to  its  means  and  its 
government;  the  other,  by  his  humane  and  gentle 
spirit,  his  profound  knowledge,  and  his  enriched 
experience,  presiding  within  its   walls   over   the   de- 


590  TRIBUTE    TO    DR.    BELL. 

pendent  subjects  of  bis  skill,  —  tbat  deatb,  coming  to 
tbem  after  protracted  feebleness,  seemed  to  make 
one  more  bond  of  union  between  them.  The  '■'•  Apple- 
ton  Wards,"  with  their  elegant  and  convenient  apart- 
ments, are  to  some  extent  a  compensation  to  a  socially 
favored  class  of  patients  for  their  removal  from  lux- 
urious homes.  The  "  Appleton  Fund,"  for  the 
assistance  and  support  of  needy  curable  patients,  is 
a  form  of  benevplence  already  blessed  by  many  of  the 
recovered  among  its  grateful  receivers.  Thus  the 
rich  and  the  poor  were  alike  embraced  in  Mr.  Apple- 
ton's  considerate  kindness.  It  is  but  right  that  Dr. 
Tyler's  just  and  beautiful  tribute  to  his  predecessor 
and  associate  should  be  transferred  to  these  pages  :  — 

"For  nearly  twenty  years  Dr.  Bell  lield  the  position  of 
Superintendent  of  the  Asylum,  identifying  himself  with  all 
its  interests,  and  directing  its  daily  management,  with  a 
comprehensive  skill,  sagacity,  and  forecast,  a  purity  and 
elevation  of  purpose,  and  a  scrupulous  faithfulness  to  every 
relation  involved,  which  secured  for  him,  for  those  intrusted 
to  his  care,  and  for  the  Institution,  the  happiest  and  the 
most  abundant  results.  The  accuracy  and  variety  of  his 
knowle(l2;e,  the  soundness  of  his  judgment,  and  his  remark- 
able faculty  of  adapting  means  to  ends,  meet  one  here  at 
every  step ;  while  the  recognized  method  of  treatment,  the 
traditionary  usages  and  rules  of  the  house,  bear  the  indelible 
stamp  of  his  thorough  and  exact  comprehension  of  the  needs 
of  the  insane,  and  his  wonderful  tact  in  providing  for  them. 
His  active  and  commanding  intellect,  his  extraordinary  attain- 


TRIBUTE    TO    DR.    BELL.  591 

ments  as  a  scholar,  philosopher,  and  psychologist ;  his  exten- 
sive knowledge  of  every  thing  pertaining  to  the  phenomena, 
management,  and  history  of  insanity ;  his  able  and  long- 
continued  efforts  and  success  in  diffusing  and  establishing 
correct  views  of  the  nature  and  treatment  of  the  disease,  — 
have  justly  caused  him  to  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  most 
distinguished  of  the  many  great  men  who  have  ever  adorned 
the  medical  profession.  His  inbred  sense  of  honor,  his 
entire  removal  from  all  meanness  and  duplicity,  his  sterling- 
integrity  and  inflexible  moral  courage,  his  keen  sense  and 
ardent  love  of  right,  leading  him  to  its  defence,  in  utter  dis- 
regard of  any  personal  consideration,  and  in  the  face  of  any 
obstacle,  and  qualifying  and  inspiring  all  his  every-day  life, 
and  yet  with  no  touch  of  pharisaical  exactness  or  pretension, 
commanded  the  admiration  and  respect  of  all  who  knew  him, 
and  gave  him  an  uncommon  power  of  personal  influence, 
while  it  made  him  of  inestimable  worth  as  a  friend.  His 
courteous  and  dignified  bearing,  his  gentle  manner  and 
quiet  humor,  his  inexhaustible  store  of  anecdote  and  useful 
information,  gave  him  a  wonderful  charm  as  a  companion. 
Strong,  though  not  demonstrative  in  his  feelings,  warm  in 
his  attachments,  he  loved  his  home,  his  friends,  and  his 
daily  associations,  and  devoted  himself  to  their  welfare.  He 
loved  his  country,  and  felt  the  severity  of  her  fiery  trial; 
and,  faithful  as  always  to  his  convictions  of  right  and  per- 
sonal obligation,  he  gave  her  as  his  last  offering  the  rich 
accumulation  of  his  experience,  and  his  life,  —  a  brilliant 
example  of  lofty  Christian  patriotism." 

The  reference  made  in  the  last  sentence  of  Dr. 
Tyler's  affectionate  tribute  to  his  predecessor  may 
justify  a  few  words  of  explanation.     It  was  the  privi- 


592  TRIBUTE    TO    DR.    BELL. 

lege  of  the  writer,  in  another  associate  relation,  to  be 
charged  with  the  office  of  a  biographer  of  Dr.  Bell.* 
Dr.  Bell  came  of  an  honored  ancestry  of  the  Scotch- 
Irish  settlers  in  New  Hampshire.  His  father  was 
governor,  one  of  his  brothers  senator  in  Congress, 
and  another  the  chief-justice  of  that  State.  He  had 
predilections  for  and  would  have  won  eminent  dis- 
tinction in  political  life,  had  not  his  chosen  pro- 
fession first  drawn  and  then  engrossed  the  faculties 
of  his  mind.  The  last  years  of  his  connection  with 
the  Asylum  were  saddened  by  repeated  and  severe 
afflictions.  He  was  there  bereaved  of  three  children 
and  of  his  wife.  On  the  resignation  of  his  office,  he 
retired  to  a  dwelling  which  he  had  built  for  himself 
in  Charlestown,  that  he  might  be  near  to  the  scene 
of  his  long-continued  service,  which  he  hoped  fre- 
quently to  visit.  Here  he  suffered  much  from  the 
symptoms  of  pulmonary  disease.  On  the  opening  of 
the  civil  war,  by  letter  dated  April  19,  1861,  and 
addressed  to  the  adjutant-general  of  the  State, 
beginning  with  the  words,  ''  We  are  at  that  point 
where  every  man  who  can  devote  himself  to  his  coun- 
try's service  should  come  forward,"  he  asks  to  have 
put  on   file  his  application  for   any   position  in  the 


*  Memoir  of  Luther  V.  Bell,  M.D.,  LL.D.  Prepared  by  vote  of  the 
Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  rrinted  in  the  "  Proceedings,"  &c.,  for 
1863. 


TRIBUTE    TO    DR.    BELL.  593 

medical  service  of  the  Commonwealth  in  which  he 
could  be  useful.  He  says  that  he  had  been  originally 
educated  for  a  surgeon  in  the  New  York  hospitals. 
Governor  Andrew  at  once  gladly  commissioned  him, 
June  10,  1861,  as  Surgeon  of  the  11th  Regiment  of 
Massachusetts  Volunteers.  This  office  he  resigned 
on  being  appointed  by  General  Hooker,  the  com- 
mander of  his  division,  "  Acting  Brigade  Surgeon." 
He  was  soon  after  promoted  to  be  "  Medical  Director  " 
of  the  division,  having  under  him  twenty-two  medical 
officers,  in  charge  of  fifteen  thousand  men.  He  per- 
formed devoted  service  in  the  camp,  on  the  field,  and 
in  the  hospital,  and  was  a  witness  of  some  of  the 
most  direful  horrors  of  the  war.  In  January,  1862, 
Congress  proposed  the  appointment  of  a  corps  of 
"  Inspectors  of  Hospitals."  To  all  persons  to  whom 
his  character  and  qualifications  were  known,  it  would 
be  obvious  that  he  would  be  considered  as  among  the 
first  of  those  to  whom  such  a  responsible  trust  should 
be  offered.  As  there  was  something  characteristic  of 
the  nobleness  and  dignity  of  the  man  in  the  course 
which  he  pursued  in  reference  to  the  matter,  and  as 
he  made  the  writer  the  medium  for  the  accomplish- 
ment of  his  wishes,  I  will  venture  to  transcribe  a 
portion  of  one  of  his  letters  to  me  which  relates  to 
the  subject. 

75 


594  TRIBUTE    TO    DR.    BELL. 


"Headquarters,  Hooker's  Division, 
Lower  Potomac,  Jan.  13,  1862. 

''A  bill  now  on  its  way  through  Congress  reorganizes  the 
Medical  Department  of  the  army.  The  Brigade  Surgeons, 
in  which  class  I  stand  as  No.  10,  are  merged  with  the  sur- 
geons of  the  regular  army,  and  certain  '  Inspectors '  are  pi'O- 
vided  for,  with  rank  and  emoluments  a  little  higher  than  we 
now  enjoy.  Their  duties  are  to  exercise  a  supervision  over 
the  hospitals,  the  hygienic  regulations,  &c. 

"I  propose  applying  for  one  of  these  places,  feeling  con- 
fident that  my  pursuits  and  studies  hitherto  will  make  me 
more  useful  in  such  a  position  than  in  the  ordinary  line  of 
duty.  Of  course  one's  expectations  of  success  depend  entire- 
ly on  the  influence  which  friends  can  bring  to  bear  on  the 
appointing  power." 

He  then  refers  to  the  exhaustive  professional  testi- 
monials which  were  already  on  file  in  his  favor,  and 
to  the  friendly  relations  existing  between  him  and  the 
incumbents  of  national  and  State  offices  ;  and  yet, 
looking  outside  of  the  usual  means  employed  for 
political  patronage,  he  adds  :  — 

"  It  seems  to  me  that  for  an  office  requiring  capacity  for 
such  duties  and  trusts  as  those  suo-gested,  if  offices  are  ever 
bestowed  because  of  fitness,  the  appointing  power  should 
have  the  testimonials  of  some  other  than  political  names.  I 
should  be  glad  at  least  to  offer  something  different,  and  my 
thoughts  have  turned  towards  our  associates  in  the  distin- 
guished societies,"  &c. 

His   wish   was   to  have  gathered  to  a   petition  in 


TRIBUTE    TO    DR.    BELL.  595 

his  favor  the  names  of  some  prominent  gentlemen, 
Fellows  of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and 
Sciences,  and  Members  of  the  Massachusetts  His- 
torical Society.  The  paper  which  I  obtained  and 
transmitted  to  him  in  answer  bears  the  following 
signatures :  Eobert  C.  Winthrop,  William  Appleton, 
Governors  Everett  and  Washburn,  Presidents  Sparks 
and  Walker,  Professors  Parsons,  Parker,  and  Pierce, 
J.  G.  Palfrey,  David  Sears,  and  Josiah  Quincy.  To 
his  own  signature  Mr.  Appleton  added  these 
words :  — 

"  I  am  not  satisfied  with  simply  signing  the  annexed  ;  but 
will  add  that  I  for  many  years  was  intimately  acquainted 
with  Dr.  Bell  while  I  was  acting  as  President  and  Trustee 
of  the  M'Lean  Asylum.  I  do  not  nor  did  I  ever  know  the 
man  I  could  so  highly  recommend  for  the  office  asked  for." 

A  special  testimonial  in  his  behalf,  addressed  to  the 
President  of  the  United  States  and  to  the  Secretary 
of  War,  went  from  members  of  the  Massachusetts 
Medical  Society  and  from  the  Medical  Faculty  of 
Harvard  University.  Dr.  Bell  was  informed  that 
his  friends  with  cheerful  alacrity  were  preparing 
these  papers,  and  warmly  expressed  his  thanks  in 
a  letter.  But  the  papers  did  not  reach  his  tent  till 
the  day  before  his  final  illness.  They  are  now  be- 
fore me  bearing  his  indorsement.  It  is  soothing  to 
think  of  him  as  in  his  last  hours  enjoying  in   this 


596  VOTES    OF    TRUSTEES. 

form  the  sympathetic  pleasure  of  communion  with 
distant  friends.  After  a  severe  attack  on  Feb.  5,  he 
died  under  his  canvas  shelter  at  Camp  Baker,  near 
Budd's  Ferry,  on  Feb.  11,  of  metastasis. 


At  the  meeting  of  the  Board  on  March  1,  Messrs. 
Bullard,  Beebe,  and  Brimmer  were  appointed  a  Com- 
mittee to  raise  by  subscription  a  sum  of  money  suffi- 
cient to  pay  the  cost  of  building  and  furnishing  a  new 
cottage  for  male  patients  at  the  Asylum ;  and  they  were 
instructed,  after  securing  the  amount,  to  consult  with 
Dr.  Tyler,  and  to  cause  to  be  built  on  the  grounds 
an  edifice  conformed  in  general  arrangements  and  for 
a  corresponding  class  of  male  patients  to  that  built 
last  year  for  females.  On  March  15  the  Committee 
on  the  subject  reported  to  the  Board  that  temporary 
experimental  arrangements  had  been  made  relative  to 
the  office  of  Steward  at  the  Hospital.  The  report 
was  accompanied  by  a  communication  from  Harvey 
Howard,  resigning  that  office  :  his  resignation  was 
accepted.  Leave  was  granted  to  Dr.  Shaw  to  accept 
the  appointment  of  Commissioner,  or  Examining  Sur- 
geon, under  the  authority  of  the  United  States 
Pension  Office,  —  his  services  to  be  rendered  at  the 
Hospital.     This    office   was    to    be    held   by  him  in 


VOTES    OF    TRUSTEES.  597 

accordance  with  documents  communicated  to  the 
Board  relative  thereto.  The  Committee  on  the  War- 
ren Fund  and  Library  were  authorized  to  expend  a 
sum  not  exceeding  fifty  dollars  for  the  supply  of  illus- 
trated papers  at  the  Hospital.  On  March  29,  by 
request  of  the  Visiting  Physicians,  the  Board  made 
a  change  in  the  regulations,  which  allowed  Dr.  Ellis, 
the  Microscopist  and  Curator  of  the  Pathological 
Cabinet,  to  perform  their  duties  in  case  of  their  neces- 
sary absence.  On  April  10,  the  Committee  on  that 
subject  reported  that  a  sum  sufficient  for  building 
and  furnishing  a  new  cottage  for  excited  male  pa- 
tients at  the  Asylum  had  been  subscribed.  Thanks 
were  voted  to  each  of  the  subscribers.  On  April  15, 
Dr.  Tyler  received  permission,  at  the  expense  of 
the  Corporation,  to  attend  the  annual  meeting  of  the 
Association  of  Superintendents  of  Institutions  for  the 
Insane,  to  be  held  in  New  York  on  May  19.  Dr. 
Tyler  having  recommended  Mr.  and  Mrs.  George  W. 
Whittle  as  persons  suitable  to  fill  the  positions  of 
Steward  and  Matron  at  the  Asylum,  and  a  Committee 
having  reported  in  approval  of  the  nomination,  they 
were  elected  by  ballot  to  those  offices.  Permission 
was  granted  by  the  Board,  on  May  3,  to  Messrs.  C. 
Tyler  and  J.  M.  Pinkerton,  executors  of  the  late  Dr. 
Bell,  to  take  his  portrait  from  the  Asylum  that  an 
engraving   might  be  made  from   it.     In  terminatini^ 


598  CHEMIST    OF    THE    HOSPITAL. 

the  connection  which  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Columbus  Tyler 
had  so  long  held,  as  Steward  and  Matron  at  the 
M'Lean  Asylum,  the  Trustees  "  desire  to  express  their 
entire  satisfaction  with  the  manner  in  which  they 
have  discharged  their  respective  duties,  their  regret 
at  their  departure,  and  their  sincere  wishes  for  their 
future  welfare  and  happiness."  It  was  voted  that 
their  salaries  should  be  paid  to  the  1st  of  July 
ensuing,  and  that  a  copy  of  these  votes  be  transmitted 
to  them  by  the  Secretary.  Mr.  Tyler  had  entered 
the  Asylum  as  attendant,  on  July  29,  1827 ;  was 
made  Supervisor  in  1830,  and  Steward,  Feb.  1,  1835, 
making  thirty-six  years  of  service.  He  had  found 
his  future  wife  a  patient  in  the  Asylum,  of  which,  on 
her  recovery,  she  was  made  Supervisor  in  the  autumn 
of  1830,  and  Matron  in  1835,  making  twenty-eight 
years  of  service. 

A  nuisance  existing  on  the  water  border  of  the 
Hospital  grounds,  Messrs.  Lowell  and  Beebe,  with 
the  Treasurer,  were  appointed  a  Committee  to  wait 
upon  the  mayor  of  the  city  to  urge  the  immediate 
filling  of  the  flats. 

On  May  17  Dr.  John  Bacon  resigned  his  office  as 
Chemist  at  the  Hospital.  His  resignation  was  ac- 
cepted, the  thanks  of  the  Board  were  voted  to  him 
"  for  his  long  and  valuable  services,"  and  the  Phy- 
sicians and  Surgeons  were  requested  to  nominate  a 


BEQUEST    OF    MR.    PICKENS.  599 

suitable  candidate  to  fill  the  vacancy.  Mr.  Rogers,  for 
a  Committee  that  had  been  appointed  to  endeavor  to 
obtain  a  reduction  of  the  charge  for  water,  reported 
that  they  had  had  a  full  hearing  before  the  Board 
of  Aldermen,  who  had  rejected  the  petition  for  a 
reduction  of  the  rates,  upon  legal  grounds,  stated  in 
City  Document  No.  47.  for  1863. 

By  recommendation  of  Dr.  Shaw,  it  was  voted,  on 
May  31,  that  the  present  House  Pupils  be  permitted 
to  boai'd  in  the  Hospital  until  further  order  of  the 
Trustees. 

A  communication  having  been  received  from  the 
Medical  Board  recommending  Dr.  James  C.  White 
as  a  candidate  for  the  office  of  Chemist  of  the  Hos- 
pital, he  was,  by  ballot  thereupon  taken,  declared 
elected.  The  rules  regarding  the  House  Pupils  of 
the  Hospital  were  amended.  Mr.  Lowell,  on  June 
16,  made  a  report  on  the  use  of  the  John  Redmond 
bequest,  which  was  accepted  and  placed  on  file.  Dr. 
Tyler  was  authorized,  on  July  14,  to  engage  the 
services  of  a  landscape  gardener,  for  the  proper 
ornamenting  of  the  Asylum  grounds.  On  Aug.  25, 
a  bequest  of  $950.00  to  the  Corporation  from  the 
late  John  Pickens  was  announced  to  the  Board  by 
the  Treasurer,  which  was  gratefully  acknowledged. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Board  on  Oct.  21,  Mr.  Wild, 
for  a  Committee,  reported  the  following  resolution, 
which  was  unanimously  adopted :  — 


600  DEATH    OF    DR.    HAYWARD. 

"In  view  of  the  recent  deatli  of  Dr.  George  Hayward, 
which  occurred  suddenly  on  the  7th  instant,  at  the  advanced 
age  of  seventy-two,  the  Trustees  of  the  Massachusetts 
General  Hospital  would  express  their  sympathetic  interest 
in  this  sad  event,  and  their  regret  for  the  departure  of  one 
so  long  and  intimately  connected  with  this  Institution.  Dr. 
Hayward  was  first  chosen  Assistant  Surgeon  in  1826,  then 
junior  Surgeon  in  1830,  and  chief  in  1838,  which  post 
he  resigned  in  1851,  after  twenty-five  years  of  active  ser- 
vice ;  still,  however,  continuing  to  the  day  of  his  death  as 
an  eflficient  member  of  its  Board  of  Consultation.  The  his- 
tory and  records  of  the  Hospital  bear  enduring  testimony  to 
his  faithful  and  devoted  labors  in  all  these  relations,  and  of 
the  high  appreciation  in  which  they  were  held  by  our  pre- 
decessors in  office  ;  and  now  that  his  life  of  varied  useful- 
ness on  earth  is  closed  the  present  Board  of  Trustees  desire 
to  offer  this  last  and  grateful  tribute  of  respect  to  his 
memory. 

"^Voted,  That  the  foregoing  resolution  be  entered  upon 
the  records,  and  a  copy  of  the  same  be  communicated  to 
the  family  of  the  deceased." 

Dr.  Solomon  D.  Townsend  was  then  elected  by 
ballot  to  fill  the  vacancy  in  the  Board  of  Consultation 
caused  by  the  death  of  Dr.  Hayward. 

On  Nov.  22,  in  consideration  of  additional  services 
rendered  by  the  Resident  Physician  and  the  Matron 
of  the  Hospital,  the  salary  of  the  former  was  in- 
creased to  12,000,  and  of  the  latter  to  $650.  On 
Dec.  20,  Messrs.  Whitney  and  Lowell  were  appointed 
a   Committee   to   prepare   the   annual  report  of   the 


BEQUEST    OF    MRS.    LORING.  601 

Trustees  to  the  Corporation.  At  this  meeting  a 
recommendation,  made  at  a  previous  meeting  by  Dr. 
Shaw,  of  the  election  of  two  additional  Surgical 
House  Pupils,  was  adopted ;  and  the  Secretary  was 
instructed  to  report  the  changes  necessary  to  be  made 
in  the  rules  and  regulations  conformably  thereto, 
which  he  did  at  the  meeting  on  Jan.  3,  186 J:,  his 
report  being  approved  by  the  Board.  A  question 
having  arisen  as  to  the  use  of  the  surplus  income 
of  Mr.  Bowditch's  Wooden-leg  Fund,  a  Committee 
appointed  for  that  purpose  reported,  on  Jan.  20,  that 
the  representatives  of  the  family  of  the  donor  objected 
to  any  diversion  of  the  income  from  the  object  speci- 
fied by  him.  On  Feb.  3,  an  appropriation  of  $200 
was  made  for  enlarging  and  improving  the  green- 
house at  the  Asylum.  An  increase  was  voted  to  the 
salaries  of  the  Superintendent,  the  Assistants,  the 
male  Supervisor,  and  the  Clerk,  at  the  x\sylum.  The 
annual  report  of  the  Board  was  read  to  the  Trustees, 
and  accepted,  and  ordered  with  the  accompanying 
documents  to  be  laid  before  the  annual  meeting  of 
the  Corporation  to  be  held  this  day. 

A  special  meeting  of  the  Board  was  held  on  Feb. 
28,  at  which  information  was  given  and  action  taken 
upon  a  matter  of  great  interest.  It  appeared  that 
the  late  Mrs.  Abigail  Loring,  of  Boston,  had  ordered 
that  the   residue   of  her  estate,  amounting  to   more 

76 


602  FURTHER    BEQUESTS. 

than  $71,000,  should  be  distributed  among  incorpo- 
rated Charitable  Institutions  of  this  city,  according 
to  the  decision  and  direction  of  three  persons  to  be 
appointed  for  that  purpose  by  her  executor.  Such 
distribution  having  been  made,  the  sum  of  $30,000 
was   assigned   to  this   Institution  for  the  support  of 

free  beds.     It  also  appeared  that  the  provision  of  the 

* 

will  under  which  such  distribution  had  been  made  was 
claimed  by  the  heirs-at-law  to  be  illegal  and  void ; 
and  that  one  or  more  suits  at  law  had  been  com- 
menced to  test  its  validity.  The  Board  thereupon 
resolved  that  it  gratefully  received  the  assignment  to 
it  in  the  order  of  distribution,  and  that  the  Treasurer 
and  Mr.  Lowell  be  a  Committee  with  full  power,  in 
behalf  of  this  Corporation,  to  employ  counsel,  sign 
and  execute  instruments  and  papers,  and  do  every 
thing  in  their  judgment  proper  and  desirable  for 
facilitating  and  securing  to  this  Corporation  the  pay- 
ment of  the  above  amount.  Further  reference  to  this 
subject  will  be  found  under  the  year  1868.  The 
Treasurer,  for  the  Committee  on  the  bequest  of  the 
late  Dr.  B.  D.  Greene,  reported  that  the  executors 
of  his  will  were  prepared  to  pay  over  the  sum  of 
|5,000,  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  a  free  bed  at 
the  Hospital.  It  was  voted  that  the  bequest  be 
gratefully  accepted  for  the  purpose  indicated,  and 
that  the  Treasurer  invest  the  sum  as  the  "  Greene 


SURGEON    TO    OUT-PATIENTS.  603 

Fund,"  the  income    to    be  for   the    support  of   free 
beds  in  the  Hospital. 

A  Committee,  to  whom  had  been  referred  the 
subject  of  the  hours  of  visiting  of  the  Surgeons  and 
Physicians,  reported  that  they  had  called  a  meeting 
of  those  officers,  and,  having  fully  impressed  them 
with  the  desirability  of  the  greatest  possible  regularity 
in  their  visits,  had  presented  the  subject  in  all  its 
relations.  The  Committee  after  deliberation  had 
adopted  the  following  resolution  :  — 

"  That  the  hour  for  the  daily  visits  to  the  patients  shall  be 
ten  o'clock,  a.m.,  or  as  near  that  time,  between  the  hours 
of  ten  and  one,  as  possible.  .The  fxithful  performance  of 
the  letter  and  spirit  of  this  rule  is,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
Committee,  compatible  with  the  best  care  of  the  patients 
and  the  good  internal  management  of  the  Hospital." 

Upon  the  report  and  recommendation  of  the  same 
Committee,  the  following  preamble  and  vote  were 
adopted :  — 

"  Whereas  the  interests  of  the  out-surgical  patients  will 
be  promoted,  the  convenience  of  the  Visiting  Surgeons  be 
subserved,  and  the  benefits  of  the  Institution  increased,  by 
the  appointment  of  a  Surgeon  to  this  class  of  patients,  — 

"  Voted,  That  a  Surgeon  to  out-patients  be  and  hereby 
is  established,  whose  duties  shall  correspond  genei'ally  with 
those  of  the  Physician  to  the  same  department," 

The  Rules  and  Regulations  were  altered  in  adjust- 


604  '  REPORT  FOR   1863. 

ment  to  the  provision  in  this  vote.  Dr.  Algernon 
Coolidge  was  then  by  ballot  elected  Surgeon  to  out- 
patients. 

The  first  regular  meeting  of  the  new  Board  of 
Trustees  for  the  current  year  was  held  on  March  13. 
The  officers  of  the  Corporation  were  the  same  as  in 
the  previous  year,  save  that  Dr.  William  J.  Dale 
took  the  place  of  Martin  Brimmer  among  the  four 
Trustees  on  the  part  of  the  Commonwealth. 

At  the  organization  of  the  Board,  Mr.  H.  B. 
Rogers  was  re-elected  as  its  Chairman  for  the  en- 
suing year.  In  the  election  of  the  members  of  the 
various  Boards,  and  of  the  officers  both  of  the 
Asylum  and  the  Hospital,  all  who  had  filled  those 
places  during  the  previous  year  were  again  chosen  to 
them  respectively.  The  Chairman  appointed  the 
Standing  Committees,  and  arranged  the  Visiting 
Committees  for  the  year. 

The  annual  report  for  1863  takes  notice  that  a 
variety  of  causes  had  made  the  year  one  of  marked 
interest  for  the  institution.  The  great  rise  in  the 
prices  of  the  commodities  of  life,  with  no  correspond- 
ing increase  of  receipts,  had  caused  anxiety.  There 
had  been  a  generous  response  to  the  appeal  for  funds 
for  erecting  the  new  building  at  Somerville,  and 
several  valuable  bequests  had  been  received,  still  the 
Treasurer  has   to    report   an    increasing  debt.     The 


REPORT    FOR    1863.  605 

new  City  Hospital,  now  about  ready  to  be  occupied, — 
in  the  construction,  arrangement,  and  preparation  of 
which  the  experience  of  our  own  institution  has 
furnished  valuable  aid,  —  will  hardly  diminish,  to  any 
practical  extent,  the  draft  upon  our  resources.  The 
increasing  population,  and  the  accommodation  of 
classes  of  patients,  lying-in  women  and  sufferers  by 
cutaneous  diseases,  for  which  we  have  no  provision, 
will  probably  require  all  its  added  space  and  means. 
The  report  notices  the  resignations,  the  changes,  and 
the  elections  in  the  official  staff  of  the  institution, 
which  have  been  already  referred  to  as  they  severally 
occurred.  During  the  year,  l,79f3  patients  had  been 
treated  in  the  Hospital.  The  assumption  of  the 
general  superintendence  of  the  Hospital  by  the 
Resident  Physician,  Dr.  Shaw,  has  been  found  to  be 
an  improvement  on  the  old  system.  The  applicants 
for  treatment  as  out-patients  have  numbered  5,214:, 
all  but  227  of  Avhom  were  cared  for:  1,590  prescrip- 
tions had  been  furnished  without  charge. 

The  Committee  congratulate  the  Trustees  on  the 
appointment  by  the  Governor  of  an  able  Board  of 
Commissioners,  —  Hon.  Josiah  Quincy,  jun.,  and  Drs. 
Alfred  Hitchcock,  and  Horatio  Storer,  —  to  examine 
into  and  report  upon  the  subject  of  Insane  Asylums 
in  this  State.  The  sum  of  $44,450.00  had  been 
munificently  subscribed  for  the  erection  of  a  cottage 


606  DR.  Tyler's  report. 

for  excited  male  patients,  corresponding  to  that 
wliich  was  built  two  years  ago  for  female  patients, 
and  which  has  proved  so  beneficent  in  its  advantages. 
The  legacies  made  to  the  institution  for  the  year 
are, — from  the  estate  of  John  Redman,  to  be  added 
to  the  Redman  Fund,  $7,500  ;  from  the  late  Cap- 
tain Percival,  $1,000  ;  from  the  late  John  Pickens, 
$1,000;  and  from  the  late  Miss  Elizabeth  Hill, 
$250 ;  the  last  three  sums  being  subject  to  the 
legal  United  States  tax.  The  productive  property 
of  the  institution  is  estimated  at  $287,528.95  ;  the 
income  was  $102,877.05  ;  the  value  of  the  estates 
at  the  Hospital  and  Asylum  is  $651,189.57.  The 
debt  of  the  Corporation  amounts  to  $73,559.50. 
The  expenses  of  the  Asylum  were  $69,300.63 ;  of 
the  Hospital,  $47,421.71.  The  weekly  cost  of  each 
patient  was,  at  the  Asylum,  $6.98  ;  at  the  Hospital, 
$6.66.  There  had  been  admitted  to  the  Asylum,  as 
Dr.  Tyler  reports,  during  the  year  94  new  patients ; 
and  there  remained  at  its  close  201.  There  had 
been  perfect  recovery  in  many  severe  cases,  and  in 
several  of  verv  Ion";  standin";.  The  new  cottao^e  of 
the  ladies'  wing,  with  the  fine  gardens,  have  proved 
of  incalculable  benefit.  It  had  been  a  busy,  and,  so 
to  speak,  a  cheerful  year,  among  the  inmates,  work- 
ing for  the  great  "  Sanitary  Fair."  The  amusements 
and  festivities  of  the  year  have  been  varied  and  much 


GIFT    FROM    DR.    SHAW.  607 

enjoyed.  The  subscription  of  $45,000,  raised  in 
four  weeks,  for  the  designed  new  building,  and  the 
kind  payment  by  a  friend,  Mr.  W.  S.  Bulhird,  of  a 
sum  of  $800  to  purchase  an  enlargement  of  the 
grounds,  are  warmly  recognized.  The  whole  house- 
hold parted  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Columbus  Tyler  with 
deep  regret,  and  follow  them  with  gratitude  and  good 
wishes. 

Dr.  Tyler  then,  at  considerable  length,  with  a  view 
to  inform  and  to  meet  the  prejudices  and  misstate- 
ments which  prevail  among  some  classes  of  the  com- 
munity, defines  the  conditions  and  safeguards  which 
regulate  the  admission  and  detention  of  the  patients 
at  the  Asylum.  These  are  presented  by  him  with 
specific  and  minute  detail,  and  to  an  intelligent  and 
candid  mind  will  prove  in  every  respect  satisfactory. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Board  on  April  15,  Dr. 
Shaw  presented  to  the  Trustees  six  volumes  of 
pamphlets  relating  to  the  institution,  which  he  had 
collected  and  had  caused  to  be  bound.  This  gift 
was  highly  appreciated  and  gratefully  recognized  by 
the  Board,  and  the  volumes  were  ordered  to  be  placed 
under  the  special  charge  of  the  Resident  Physician. 
The  collection  has  proved  very  serviceable  in  the 
preparation  of  these  pages.  At  this  meeting,  Mr.  S. 
P.  Loud,  executor  of  the  will  of  the  late  William 
Oliver,    informed     the     Board     that     a    legacy    of 


608  RESIGNATION    OF    THE    SECRETARY. 

137,580.00,  under  said  will,  had  fallen  in  to  this 
Corporation,  by  the  recent  death  of  Miss  Nancy 
Oliver.  The  matter  was  referred,  for  proper  action, 
to  the  Treasurer.  On  account  of  the  enhanced  cost 
of  the  necessaries  of  life,  it  was  found  requisite  to 
raise  the  rates  of  board  for  patients  at  the  Asylum. 
Their  sureties  were  to  be  informed  of  this,  |;he  Visit- 
ing Committee  for  the  time  being  receiving  full 
power  to  dispose  of  all  questions  which  might  arise 
in  any  case  from  this  needful  measure.  On  April 
20,  the  Committee  on  repairs  received  full  powers 
to  make  all  necessary  arrangements  for  taking  the 
supply  of  water  for  the  Asylum  from  the  Charlestown 
Water-works,  instead  of  from  the  Cochituate. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Board  on  May  8,  Mr.  Wild 
was  appointed  Secretary  ^ro  tem.^  in  the  absence  of 
Mr.  Hall,  from  whom  a  communication  was  received, 
resigning  that  office  held  by  him.  His  resignation 
was  accepted,  and  the  thanks  of  the  Board  were 
voted  to  him  for  his  faithful  and  valuable  services. 
Messrs.  Davis  and  Lowell  were  made  a  Committee  to 
nominate  at  the  next  meeting  a  candidate  or  candi- 
dates for  the  office  of  Secretary,  and  the  latter  was 
requested  and  authorized  to  act  as  such  till  the 
vacancy  should  be  filled.  l)r.  Tyler  received  per- 
mission to  attend,  at  the  expense  of  the  institution, 
the    annual    meeting    at    Washington,    of    Medical 


DAY    OF    trustees'    MEETINGS    CHANGED.  609 

Superintendents  of  the  Insane.  On  the  nomination 
of  the  Committee,  at  the  meeting  of  the  Board  on 
May  24,  Mr.  Wilham  S.  Dexter  was  unanimously 
elected  Secretary,  and  was  duly  qualified  as  such  on 
June  7.  On  May  24,  Dr.  H.  I.  Bowditch  resigned 
his  office  as  one  of  the  Visiting  Physicians.  The 
Board  accepted  his  resignation  with  great  regret,  and 
expressed  to  him  "  their  gratitude  for  his  long,  faith- 
ful, and  laborious  services,  and  for  his  constant  and 
deep  interest  in  the  welfare  of  the  Hospital."  Dr. 
Calvin  Ellis  was,  on  June  7,  unanimously  chosen  to 
fill  this  vacancy.  A  change  in  the  Rules  was  made 
by  which  the  Board  of  Consultation  was  increased 
to  eight  members.  Drs.  H.  I.  Bowditch  and  C.  E. 
Brown-Sequard  were  then  elected  members  of  that 
Board.  An  increase  of  salaries  and  wages  was  voted 
to  employes  at  the  Asylum  on  July  15,  and  on  July 
19  the  salary  of  the  Steward  and  Matron  was  in- 
creased $300  per  annum.  The  thanks  of  the  Trus- 
tees were  voted,  on  Aug.  16,  to  the  Directors  of  the 
Public  Institutions  of  Boston,  for  their  kindness  in 
giving  the  use  of  the  city  boat  to  the  Asylum  patients 
on  three  occasions  during  the  present  summer.  It 
was  voted,  on  Oct.  19,  to  hold  the  regular  meetings 
of  the  Board  henceforward  on  Friday,  instead  of,  as 
heretofore,  on  Sunday.  Dr.  Algernon  Coolidge,  on 
Nov.    4,   resigned   his    position   as    Surgeon   to    out- 

77 


610  BEQUEST    OF    MISS    SEVER. 

patients.  His  resignation  was  accepted,  and  a  Com- 
mittee charged  with  the  selection  of  a  gentleman  to 
be  proposed  for  that  office.  The  thanks  of  the  Board 
were  voted  to  Dr.  Coolidge  for  his  faithful  and  valu- 
able services.  Messrs.  Greenough  and  Higginson 
were  appointed,  on  Dec.  16,  a  Committee  to  examine 
the  Treasurer's  accounts,  and  to  prepare  the  annual 
report  of  the  Board  to  the  Corporation.  On  Dec. 
30,  Dr.  J.  B.  S.  Jackson  communicated  his  resig- 
nation as  a  Visiting  Physician.  The  Board,  on 
accepting  it,  resolved, — 

"That  the  official  services  of  Dr.  Jackson,  as  House 
Apothecaiy,  Assistant  and  Admitting  Physician,  and  Visit- 
ing Physician  in  this  Hospital,  extending  as  they  do  through 
a  period  of  thirty-one  years,  twenty-five  of  which  have  been 
devoted  to  the  important  duties  of  the  last  office,  deserve, 
and  should  receive  the  grateful  acknowledgments  of  the 
Board  and  of  this  community  ;  and,  in  accepting  the  resig- 
nation of  his  present  official  position,  the  Trustees  desire  to 
bear  their  testimony  to  the  punctuality,  precision,  skill,  and 
thorough  fidelity  with  which  all  its  requirements  have  been 
discharged,  and  to  extend  to  him  their  best  wishes  for  his 
future  health  and  welfare." 

The  Treasurer  reported  on  Jan.  18,  1865,  a  bequest 
from  Miss  Martha  Sever,  of  Kingston,  of  five  shares 
in  the  Western  Railroad  Company  for  the  support 
of  free  beds.  The  annual  report  of  the  Trustees, 
having  been  presented  and  accepted  by  the  Board, 


REPORT    FOR    1864.  611 

was,  with  the  accompanying  documents,  laid  before 
the  Corporation  at  its  annual  meeting  on  Feb.  1. 
The  Committee  necessarily  have  much  to  say  about 
the  pecuniary  affairs  of  the  Corporation.  This  is  the 
fifty-first  annual  report.  The  expenses  are  still 
steadily  exceeding  the  income.  The  numerous  per- 
sonal changes  in  the  administration  and  conduct  of 
the  institution,  already  noticed  in  the  order  of  their 
occurrence,  are  referred  to.  Leading  practitioners 
have  within  a  few  years  devoted  themselves  to  the 
special  investigation  of  a  certain  obscure  class  of 
diseases,  and  the  Board  of  Consultation  has  been 
enlarged  by  the  addition  of  the  two '  distinguished 
practitioners,  Drs.  Bowditch  and  Brown-Sequard. 
There  had  been  admitted  to  the  Hospital  1,599 
patients,  of  whom  55^  per  cent  were  discharged 
cured.  The  Physician  to  out-patients  had  treated 
3,761  medical  cases  ;  and  1,858  surgical  out-patients 
had  been  cared  for.  There  had  been  302  patients 
at  the  Asylum,  195  remaining  there.  The  property 
of  the  Corporation,  other  than  the  real  estate  in 
use  by  it,  is  |337,395.02.  The  debt  amounts  to 
$83,414.50  ;  and  the  excess  of  expenses  over  income 
for  the  year  had  been  $26,704.12.  The  Treasurer's 
accounts  go  into  full  details  on  all  these  matters, 
and  prepared  the  way  for  the  measures  of  relief 
which  were   soon  to  be  munificently   afforded.     Dr. 


612  ORGANIZATION    FOR    1865. 

Tyler,  in  his  report  from  the  Asylum,  also  refers  to 
these  financial  perplexities,  and  to  the  slight  increase 
in  the  charge  of  board  for  patients,  —  though,  he 
adds,  these  have  known  no  abridgment  of  care, 
convenience,  comfort,  or  recreation,  however  the 
managers  have  been  embarrassed.  The  entertain- 
ments have  been  numerous  and  much  enjoyed.  The 
improvements  in  the  grounds  and  buildings  are 
highly  appreciated.  Dr.  Tyler  then  devotes  eight 
pages  of  his  report  to  a  very  instructive  statement  of 
one  of  those  lessons  of  a  full  and  enriched  experience 
as  to  the  uses  of  an  Asylum,  and  its  benefits  and  its 
modes  of  soothing  patients,  for  which  this  series  of 
reports  is  so  valuable. 

The  first  meeting  of  the  Trustees  for  the  current 
year  was  held  at  the  Hospital  on  Feb.  24.  The 
officers  of  the  previous  year  had  all  been  re-elected, 
save  that  in  the  place  of  Mr.  J.  C.  Wild,  Mr.  George 
B.  Emerson  had  been  chosen  a  Trustee  on  the  part 
of  the  Corporation.  He,  however,  declined  to  serve. 
Mr.  Rogers  was  re-elected  Chairman  of  the  Board. 
Drs.  H.  I.  Bowditch  and  D.  H.  Storer  ^veve  joined 
to  the  previous  Board  of  Consultation;  Drs.  G.  C. 
Shattuck,  A.  A.  Gould,  C.  E.  Ware,  F.  Minot,  C. 
Ellis,  and  S.  L.  Abbot,  were  chosen  Visiting  Phy- 
sicians ;  the  Visiting  Surgeons  were  the  same  as  be- 
fore, as  were  the  other  officers  and  employes  of  the 


DEATH    OF    J.    AMORY    DAVIS.  613 

Hospital  and  Asylum.  The  Chairman  appointed 
the  Standing  Committees,  and  arranged  the  Visiting 
Committees  for  the  year.  The  Board  at  several 
successive  meetings  gave  much  attention  to  measures 
for  increasing  the  funds  of  the  institution.  A  Com- 
mittee had  been  appointed ;  and  a  circular  prepared 
by  its  Chairman,  Mr.  Rogers,  was  considered  at  the 
meeting  on  April  20,  and  approved,  with  a  vote  that 
three  thousand  copies  of  it  be  printed.  To  this 
circular  and  its  results  subsequent  reference  will  be 
made.  Dr.  Tyler  made  a  short  visit  to  Charleston, 
S.C.,  this  spring,  for  the  benefit  of  his  health. 

The  death  of  Mr.  J.  Amory  Davis,  one  of  the 
Trustees,  was  communicated  to  the  Board  at  its 
meeting  on  May  5  ;  and  the  Trustees  gave  expression 
to  the  great  sorrow  with  which  they  heard  of  the 
removal  of  their  late  associate,  and  resolved,  — 

"That  this  institution,  in  common  widi  the  whole  com- 
munity, has  sustained  great  loss  in  the  death  of  Mr.  Davis, 
whose  comprehensive  spirit  of  humanity,  perfect  fidelity,  and 
sound  judgment,  united  with  most  conscientious  devotion  to 
the  duties  of  his  office,  had  rendered  his  services  of  great 
value  to  this  institution  and  to  all  connected  with  it." 

This  tribute  was  communicated  to  the  widow  of 
Mr.  Davis,  and  the  Board  attended  his  funeral. 

Dr.  Alexander  D.  Sinclair  was,  on  May  19,  chosen 
to  serve  for  the  remainder  of  the  year  as  associate  to 


614  .         VOTES    OF    TRUSTEES. 

the  Physician  to  out-patients.  On  June  2,  leave  of 
absence  was  given  to  Dr.  Tyler  to  attend  at  Pitts- 
burg the  Convention  of  Medical  Superintendents  of 
American  Institutions  for  the  Insane.  On  July  20, 
it  was  voted  "  that  the  Physicians  and  Surgeons  to 
out-patients  be  authorized  to  charge  such  fees  for 
their  first  visits  as  they  may  think  proper,  whenever 
they  are  satisfied  of  the  ability  of  patients  to  pay  the 
same."  Donations  of  large  amounts  were  received 
by  the  Board  at  this,  and  on  subsequent  meetings, 
which  will  be  mentioned  at  the  close  of  the  year. 
A  communication  was  received  from  Dr.  Tyler  on 
Sept.  5,  announcing  the  resignation  of  Dr.  Ranney, 
and  relating  to  the  appointment  of  a  successor.  This 
was  acted  upon  at  the  meeting  of  the  Trustees  on 
Oct.  2.  Dr.  Ranney's  resignation  was  accepted,  and 
the  thanks  and  good  wishes  of  the  Board  were  voted 
to  him.  Dr.  Whittemore  was  then  appointed  Assist- 
ant Physician  at  the  Asylum,  and  Dr.  Isaac  H. 
Hazelton  was  appointed  in  Dr.  Whittemore's  former 
place.  It  was  voted  that  the  quarterly  meetings 
of  the  Board  at  the  Asylum  be  henceforth  held  on 
the  Fridays  after  the  third  Wednesdays  of  January, 
April,  July,  and  October.  Mr.  Greenough,  on  Nov. 
3,  resigned  his  place  as  a  Trustee.  Messrs.  Storrow 
and  Rogers  were  appointed,  on  Dec.  15,  to  prepare 
the  annual  report  of  the  Board.     To  this  Committee 


ORGANIZATION    FOR    1866.  615 

were  referred  in  order  the  various  reports  of  the 
officers  and  of  the  Treasurer  as  they  were  presented. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Board  on  Jan.  19,  1866, 
Mr.  Bullard  communicated  the  offer  of  Mr.  Nathaniel 
Thayer  of  a  donation  of  the  sum  of  twenty-five 
thousand  dollars  to  the  Corporation,  provided  that 
seventy-five  thousand  more  were  raised.  Messrs. 
Bullard,  Beebe,  Higginson,  and  Rogers  were  ap- 
pointed a  Committee  to  obtain  subscriptions  for  the 
same.  The  Secretary,  Mr.  W.  S.  Dexter,  resigned  that 
office  on  Feb.  7  ;  his  resignation  was  accepted,  with 
thanks  for  his  faithful  and  efficient  services.  Mr. 
Thomas  B.  Hall  was  then  elected  Secretary  pro  tern. 
Dr.  Tyler's  salary  was  fixed  at  $3,000,  commencing 
from  January  first.  The  annual  report,  which  had 
been  offered  to  the  Board  and  accepted,  was,  with  the 
accompanying  documents,  laid  before  the  annual 
meeting  of  the  Corporation  held  on  Feb.  7,  1866. 

The  Corporation  re-elected  Messrs.  Hooper,  Wig- 
gles worth,  and  Stevenson,  respectively,  as  their  Presi- 
dent, Vice-President,  and  Treasurer,  and  chose  Mr. 
Thomas  B.  Hall  Secretary  ;  with  Messrs.  Beebe,  C. 
H.  Dalton,  S.  Eliot,  G.  Higginson,  J.  Lowell,  H.  B. 
Eogers,  C.  S.  Storrow,  and  H.  A.  Whitney,  Trustees. 
Messrs.  W.  S.  Bullard,  S.  G.  Howe,  James  L.  Little, 
and  Harrison  Eitchie  had  been  appointed  Trustees  on 
the   part  of  the  Commonwealth.     The  Trustees,   on 


616  REPORT  FOR   1865. 

their  organization,  Feb.  23,  unanimously  chose  Mr. 
Rogers  as  their  Chairman,  notwithstanding  he  had 
declined  to  be  a  candidate  for  re-election.  No  change 
was  made  in  the  old  Boards  of  Consultation,  of  Visit- 
ing Physicians  and  Surgeons,  or  in  the  officers  of  the 
Hospital  or  Asylum.  Dr.  J.  Theodore  Heard  was 
chosen  Surgeon  to  out-patients.  The  Chairman  ap- 
pointed the  Standing  Committees  and  designated  the 
terms  of  the  Visiting  Committees  for  the  year.  The 
Special  Committees  of  the  last  year,  who  had  not  re- 
ported, were  re-appointed  on  their  respective  subjects. 
The  report  of  the  Trustees  for  1865,  with  the 
documents  accompanying  it,  are  of  especial  interest. 
An  anxious  solicitude  had  steadily  increased  with 
the  successive  statements  of  the  Treasurer  as  to  the 
excess  of  expenditures  over  income,  and  the  accumu- 
lating debt.  The  Asylum  might  be  regarded  as  self- 
supporting,  from  the  board  of  patients  and  the  income 
of  special  funds.  The  Hospital  was  the  great  ab- 
sorbent and  the  occasion  of  the  debt.  The  special 
report  and  the  circular,  soon  to  be  referred  to, 
indicate  the  measures  taken  to  relieve  the  embar- 
rassment. The  donations  and  legacies  for  the  year 
amount  to  $22,920;  viz.,  a  bequest  of  $500  from 
Miss  Martha  Sever ;  from  the  estate  of  M.  P.  Sawyer, 
$1,000;  from  the  Redman  estate,  $6,500;  donations 
from  William  Minot,  $100 ;    from  Mrs.  H.  F.   Lee, 


DR.  Tyler's  report.  617 

$1,000  ;  from  Stephen  Salisbury,  $5,000  ;  from  Ed- 
ward Whitney,  $5,000  ;  from  Edward  Wigglesworth, 
$1,000  ;  bequest  by  E.  A.  Raymond,  $2,820. 

The  death  of  their  associate,  J.  Amory  Davis,  is 
appropriately  noticed  by  the  Committee.  Dr.  Shaw 
reports  that  there  had  been  admitted  to  the  Hospital 
1,199  patients,  140  of  whom  were  on  account  of 
accidents.  The  average  number  had  been  113. 
There  had  been  treated  as  out-patients  5,356  persons. 
Tlie  weekly  cost  of  a  patient  in  the  Hospital  had 
been  $9.86  ;  in  the  Asylum,  $12.50.  There  were 
remaining  in  the  Asylum  192  patients ;  277  having 
been  under  treatment  during  the  year.  The  list  of 
resources  for  the  diversion,  amusement,  instruction, 
and  excursions  of  the  patients,  as  presented  by  Dr. 
Tyler,  exhibits  an  amount  of  kindness  and  sympathy 
exercised  towards  them  which  makes  by  itself  an 
impressive  lesson.  In  May,  the  new  building  for 
gentlemen,  called  the  '*  Bowditch  Ward,"  was  occu- 
pied ;  and  its  excellent  adaptations  have  afforded  the 
most  solid  satisfaction.  Another  of  those  instructive 
contributions  to  the  science  of  his  theme,  with  preg- 
nant suggestions  as  to  the  causes,  the  workings,  and 
the  "  moral  treatment "  of  mental  disease,  will  be 
found  in  this  report  of  Dr.  Tyler's.  Where  but  to 
the  keen  and  intelligent  observation,  the  discriminat- 
ing judgment,  and  the  carefully  matured  experience 


618  FINANCES    OF    THE    HOSPITAL. 

of  such  well-tried  officials  as  himself,  are  we  to  look 
for  wise  counsel  ]  Dr.  Mark  Ranney,  his  senior 
assistant,  having  assumed  the  superintendence  of  the 
Iowa  Asylum,  Dr.  Whittemore  fills  his  place,  Dr.  I. 
H.  Hazelton  being  Dr.  Whittemore's  successor. 

To  this  annual  report  is  attached  the  "  Report  of  a 
Committee  on  the  Financial  Condition  of  the  Hos- 
pital," and  a  Circular.  The  Committee,  after  a  most 
thorough  and  protracted  investigation  into  the  man- 
agement, oversight,  internal  economy,  and  daily 
administration  of  the  Hospital,  had  entirely  satisfied 
themselves  that  there  was  no  waste,  no  extravagance, 
no  needless  or  unwarranted  outlay.  Relief  from 
embarrassment  was  not  to  be  sought  in  reducing  the 
expenses,  but  was  offered  only  by  the  alternative  of 
an  appeal  to  the  public  for  generous  gifts,  or  of 
increasing  the  number  of  paying  patients.  Consider- 
ing the  circumstances  of  the  community,  under  the 
pressure  of  many  burdens  and  the  exaction  of  many 
claims,  at  the  close  of  an  exhausting  war,  a  direct 
appeal  for  new  gifts  is  to  be  made  only  from  absolute 
necessity.  The  publication  of  a  circular  which  shall 
set  the  wants  and  appeals  of  the  institution  before 
affluent  and  benevolent  persons,  so  that  they  may  be 
induced  to  remember  it  in  the  disposal  of  their 
estates,  is  strongly  recommended.  The  Committee 
then  give  reasons  to  justify  the  effort  for  increasing 


FINANCES    OF    THE    HOSPITAL.  619 

the  number  of  paying  patients.  The  institution  in 
its  early  years,  received  its  patients  chiefly  from  that 
industrious  class  of  our  native  population,  who,  by 
paying  a  reasonable  board,  enabled  it,  with  the  help 
of  its  income  from  invested  funds  and  donations,  to 
meet  its  expenses.  Immigrations  from  abroad,  with 
a  consequent  change  in  the  social  and  pecuniary  con- 
dition of  the  laboring  classes,  have  led  to  an  extra- 
ordinary increase  in  the  number  of  free  patients 
humanely  cared  for  in  the  Hospital.  During  the  last 
five  years,  of  7,668  patients,  only  1,601  have  paid 
any  thing  ;  and  of  those  who  paid  any  thing  very 
few  met  the  actual  cost  of  their  board.  Nearly  25,000 
other  patients  had  freely  received  medical  or  surgical 
advice  or  treatment.  The  excess  of  expenditures 
beyond  income  has  thus,  in  five  years,  swelled  to 
160,827.04.  The  debt  of  the  institution,  after  all 
the  splendid  endowments  it  has  received,  is  now 
$86,698.47.  The  city,  within  the  last  year  having 
provided  a  commodious  hospital  for  the  poorer  classes, 
will  justify  this  institution  in  diminishing  the  number 
of  its  free  patients.  The  Committee  therefore  rec- 
ommend measures  to  that  end. 

The  Circular,  of  which  three  thousand  copies  were 
printed,  under  date  of  April  1,  1865,  earnestly  pre- 
sents the  claims  of  the  institution.  With  the  excep- 
tion of  a  similar  one  at  Philadelphia,  it  is  the  oldest 


620  APPEAL    FOR    AID. 

in  the  country.  Having  received  substantial  aid  from 
the  State  in  its  first  year,  it  has  ever  since  depended 
wholly  on  subscriptions,  donations,  bequests,  and 
devises,  in  which  it  has  had  a  truly  munificent  share. 
It  has  prompted  the  formation  and  endowment,  and 
been  the  model  for  the  management  of  many  other 
hospitals.  It  has  been  an  effective  agent  in  the 
development  and  improvement  of  the  medical  and 
surgical  professions.  It  has  nobly  ministered  to 
suffering  humanity.  Apart  from  its  property  in  the 
lands  and  buildings  which  it  occupies,  its  invested 
funds,  most  of  them  restricted  in  their  use,  amount 
to  $230,380.03,  with  a  debt,  arising  from  the  sum  of 
yearly  deficits,  of  $86,698.47.  Unless  the  institution 
receives  further  aid,  its  necessary  course  will  be  to 
reduce  the  average  number  of  its  free  patients,  which 
is  now  114,  to  50.  Waiving  for  the  present,  for 
reasons  assigned,  a  direct  appeal  for  donations,  the 
Circular  asks  that  the  claims  of  the  Hospital  may  be 
remembered  in  testamentary  bequests.  The  fruitful 
results  effected  by  this  Report  and  Circular  will  come 
under  grateful  recognition  in  the  review  of  the  cur- 
rent year.  The  thanks  of  the  Trustees  were  voted, 
on  March  23,  to  the  contributors  who  had  responded 
so  generously  to  this  appeal. 

Dr.  Tyler  received  leave  of  absence,  on  April  20, 
to  attend  the  meeting  of  Superintendents  of  Asylums 


VOTES    OF    TRUSTEES.  621 

at  Washington.  On  May  4,  Miss  Wiggin  resigned 
her  office  as  Matron  of  the  Asylum.  Her  resignation 
was  accepted.  On  May  18,  Dr.  Tyler  communicated 
to  the  Board  the  resignation  of  Mr.  G.  A.  Goodell, 
as  Supervisor  at  the  Asylum,  and  the  nomination  to 
the  Board  of  Mr.  Dexter  Gray  as  his  successor.  The 
resignation  was  accepted,  and  the  nomination  was  con- 
firmed. Measures  were  adopted  to  provide  for  reno- 
vations in  the  surgical  department  of  the  Hospital, 
as  desired  by  the  Surgeons.  A  report  and  plans  were 
submitted  on  June  29,  for  alterations  and  improve- 
ments in  the  surgical  operating  theatre  ;  and  Dr.  H.  J. 
Bigelow  appeared  to  urge  their  adoption.  The  sub- 
ject was  recommitted  for  further  details  on  July  13. 
On  Aug.  31,  an  anonymous  bequest  of  $1,500  from 
a  friend  of  the  institution  was  announced  to  the 
Board.  This  gift  proved  to  be  an  offering  of  grati- 
tude from  the  Kev.  Dr.  S.  M.  Worcester,  whose  wife 
had  been  a  patient  at  the  Asylum.  On  Oct.  19,  Dr. 
Tyler  having  communicated  to  the  Board  the  resig- 
nation of  Miss  Relief  R.  Barber,  after  a  service  of 
thirty  years  as  female  Supervisor  at  the  Asylum,  it 
was  "  voted  that  the  Chairman  be  requested  to 
communicate  in  writing  to  Miss  Barber  the  high 
appreciation  of  her  services  held  by  the  Board."  Dr. 
Tyler  having  proposed  as  her  successor  Miss  Geor- 
giana  W.  Mills,  the  Board  voted  approval.     Progress 


622  ANNUAL    MEETING,    1867. 

was  announced,  on  Nov.  2,  in  the  plans  for  a  new 
surgical  theatre.  Messrs.  Eliot  and  Little  were  ap- 
pointed, on  Dec.  28,  the  Committee  to  prepare  the 
annual  report.  On  Jan.  11,  1867,  Dr.  Tyler  wrote 
to  the  Board  stating  his  need  of  relaxation  from  his 
cares,  and  his  desire  for  leave  of  absence  for  six 
months.  The  Board  voted  an  expression  of  sympathy 
for  him,  and  in  consideration  of  the  value  of  his 
services  gave  him  leave  of  absence  for  a  year,  with  a 
continuation  of  his  salary.  Thanks  were  voted  to 
the  Rev.  J.  Spaulding,  of  New  York,  for  the  donation 
of  $500,  made  by  him  to  the  institution  at  the  request 
of  his  wife.  Mr.  Ritchie,  on  Feb.  6,  announced  his 
intention  to  decline  a  re-appointment  as  a  Trustee  on 
the  part  of  the  Commonwealth.  The  Treasurer 
announced  his  reception  of  a  legacy  of  $20,000  from 
the  executor  of  the  will  of  the  late  Miss  Sarah  Pratt, 
one  half  for  the  Hospital  and  one  half  for  the 
Asylum. 

The  annual  meeting  of  the  Corporation  was  held 
on  Feb.  6,  1867,  at  which  the  reports  were  submitted ; 
and  these  were  referred  to  the  Trustees,  by  whose 
Committee  they  were  to  be  prepared  for  print.  The 
only  change  made  in  the  Corporation  was  in  the  ap- 
pointment, on  the  part  of  the  Commonwealth,  of  Ezra 
Farnsworth  as  Trustee,  in  place  of  Harrison  Ritchie, 
who  had  declined  longer  service.     Mr.  Rogers  was 


REPORT    FOR    1866.  623 

again  chosen  Chairman  of  the  Board ;  Dr.  C.  E. 
Brown-Sequard  was  added  to  the  Board  of  Consul- 
tation of  the  previous  year  ;  Dr.  James  C.  White 
took  the  place  of  Dr.  A.  A.  Gould,  as  Visiting  Phy- 
sician ;  the  Board  of  Visiting  Surgeons  was  un- 
changed. Dr.  Shaw  was  re-appointed  Resident 
Physician  of  the  Hospital ;  Drs.  Sinclair  and  H.  J. 
Oliver,  jun..  Physicians  to  out-patients  ;  Dr.  J.  T 
Heard,  Surgeon  to  out-patients  ;  Dr.  C.  Ellis,  Micro- 
scopist  and  Curator  of  the  Pathological  Cabinet ;  Dr. 
J.  C.  White,  Chemist ;  D.  G.  Wilkins,  Apothecary  ; 
Mrs.  M.  A.  Colesworthy,  Matron.  Dr.  J.  E.  Tyler 
was  re-chosen  Superintendent  of  the  Asylum,  and 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Whittle  Steward  and  Matron.  The 
Chairman,  with  the  approval  of  the  Board,  appointed 
the  Standing  Committees,  and  arranged  the  Visiting 
Committees  for  the  year. 

The  report  for  1866  is  in  every  particular  a  cheer- 
ful and  a  hopeful  document.  The  income  of  the  year 
had  been  $190,935.60 ;  the  expenses,  |194,802.63  ; 
the  excess  of  the  latter  being  chargeable  to  the  Hos- 
pital ;  while  the  Asylum,  owing  to  the  difference  in 
the  class  of  its  patients,  more  than  supports  itself. 
The  debt,  which,  after  a  previous  reduction,  had 
amounted  to  $68,369.97,  has  been  paid  during  the 
year ;  the  productive  general  fund  has  increased  from 
$53,002.27  to  $95,213.82,  and  the  productive  special 


624  DR.  Tyler's  report. 

funds  from  |308,056.01  to  $331,782.51.  These 
gratifying  results  are  due  chiefly  to  the  liberal  sub- 
scriptions in  answer  to  the  appeal  in  the  Circular. 
Mr.  Nathaniel  Thayer  had  ofl'ered  to  give  $25,000, 
on  condition  that  $75,000  more  were  subscribed  in 
the  community.  The  sum  was  soon  raised,  with  a 
surplus  of  eight  hundred  dollars,  contributed  by 
ninety-eight  persons.  The  list  of  subscribers  will 
be  found  near  the  close  of  this  volume.  Other  dona- 
tions and  legacies  received  during  the  year  amounted 
to  $10,072.03,  and  new  subscriptions  for  free  beds 
to  $4,100.00.  Dr.  Shaw  reports  that  1,224  patients 
had  been  under  treatment  during  the  year ;  95 
remaining.  Of  medical  and  surgical  out-patients 
treated,  there  had  been  5,608.  The  relief  provided 
by  the  City  Hospital  is  appreciated  here.  Very  ex- 
tensive renovations  had  been  made  in  the  Hospital 
during  the  year.  A  new  operating  theatre  is  now 
the  greatest  necessity.  The  death  of  Dr.  A.  A. 
Gould,  "  one  of  the  most  faithful  and  amiable  of  the 
medical  staff,"  is  tenderly  referred  to.  The  assets 
of  the  Corporation,  exclusive  of  the  Hospital  and 
Asylum  estates,  amount  to  $426,996.33. 

Dr.  Tyler  reports  that  there  had  been  103  new 
patients  received  at  the  Asylum  during  the  year,  and 
that  197  remained  at  its  close.  While  great  im- 
provements have  been  made  in  the  grounds,  "  several 


ijsebriates  inadmissible  to  the  asylum.     625 

new  and  valuable  items  of  purely  medical  treatment 
have  been  successfully  tried ; "  the  general  manage- 
ment, or  moral  treatment^  tested  by  long  and  varied 
trial,  having  remained  the  same.  Holidays,  amuse- 
ments, excursions,  lectures,  games,  &c.,  organ  con- 
certs at  the  Music  Hall,  and  free  access  to  the 
Museum  given  by  Mr.  Kimball,  have  continued  to 
contribute  their  pleasures  to  the  patients.  The  resig- 
nation of  the  Supervisor,  Mr.  Goodell,  after  twelve 
years  of  varied  service,  deprived  the  Asylum  of  a 
most  faithful  officer  and  a  most  trustworthy  man. 
Miss  Barber's  retirement,  after  thirty  years  of  the 
most  devoted  toil  and  sympathy  given  to  the  hundreds 
who  had  been  under  her  charge,  sets  the  seal  of  a 
cherished  and  affectionate  remembrance  upon  her 
peculiar  usefulness  and  her  wonderful  adaptation  for 
her  life's  work. 

Dr.  Tyler  devotes  several  pages  of  his  report  to  a 
discussion  of  that  form  of  insanity  which  is  produced 
by  inebriety.  There  is,  he  says,  a  large  increase  in 
the  habits  of  intemperance,  and  in  the  class  of 
sufferers  from  that  vice  who  become  thereby  mentally 
diseased.  His  advice  is  sought  constantly  by  the 
victims  and  by  their  friends.  The  latter,  in  very 
many  cases,  naturally  seek  to  avail  themselves  of  the 
retirement,  discipline,  and  remedial  processes  of  the 
Asylum.     But  it  is  not  expedient  —  on  the  contrary, 

79 


626  AN    INEBRIATE    ASYLUM. 

it  is  highly  objectionable  —  to  receive  such  a  class  of 
patients.  It  is  not  fitting  that  they  should  be  domi- 
ciliated with  the  general  insane.  Very  many  and 
very  serious  practical  embarrassments  would  arise 
from  receiving  them.  This  report  may  be  profitably 
consulted  by  those  interested  in  this  special  subject, 
either  from  their  relation  to  any  victim  of  inebriety, 
or  from  their  concern  for  the  establishment  of  an 
institution  devoted  to  the  care  of  inebriates. 


627 


CHAPTER   XVI. 

February   22,    1867,  to    1872. 

Dr.  Tyler's  Absence  in  Europe.  —  Gift  through  Dr.  J.  M.  Warren. 

—  New  Grounds  at  Asylum.  —  Female  Students  at  Hospital. — 
Death  of  Dr.  J.  M.  Warren. — Dr,  J.  H.  Denny,  Assistant  at 
Asylum.  —  Legacy  from  Dr.  J.  M.  Warren.  —  Death  of  Dr.  J. 
Jackson.  —  Bequest  from  him. — Religious  Services  at  Asylum. 

—  Resignation  of  Mr.  Whitney.  —  Annual  Meeting.  —  Organi- 
zation FOR  1868. — Report  for   1867.  —  New  Operating  Theatre. 

—  Dr.  Tyler's  Foreign  Observations.  —  Death  of  the  President 
of  THE  Corporation,  Mr.  Hooper.  —  Further  Bequests.  —  Changes 
in  the  Medical  Staff.  —  Annual  Meeting.  —  Organization  for 
1869.  —  Report  for  1868.  —  Dr.  Tyler's  Review. — Lady  Visitors 
at  Hospital.  —  New  Officers.  —  Gift  from  John  C.  Gray.  — 
Warren  Prize.  —  Appeal  from  Dr.  Morton's  Family.  —  Annual 
Meeting.  —  Organization  for  1870.  —  Report  for  1869.  —  Depart- 
ment for  Skin  Diseases.  —  Post  Mortem  Register. —  Committee 
ON  Autopsies.  —  Donations  from  Dr.  H.  J.  Bigelow. — Female 
Supervisor  at  Asylum.  —  Changes  of  Officers.  —  New  Surgical 
Instruments. — Legacy  from  Rev.  Dr.  Worcester.  —  Experiment 
OF  A  Skin  Disease  Ward.  —  Annual  Meeting.  —  Organization 
FOR  1871. — Report  for  1870.  — Resignation  of  Dr.  Tyler. — 
Resignation  of  Dr.  Whittemore. — An  Incident  connected  with 
the  Asylum.  —  Award  of  the  Warren  Prize.  —  Proposals  for  a 
New  Location  for  the  Asylum.  —  Resignation  of  Mr.  Farns- 
worth.  —  Donations  received.  —  Subject  and  Advertisement 
FOR  the  next  Warren  Prize.  —  Dr.  Ray  in  Temporary  Charge  of 
THE  Asylum.  —  Statistics  of  Surgical  Operations. — Dr.  Jelly 
chosen  Superintendent  of  Asylum.  —  Dr.  H.  P.  Quincy,  Artist  of 
THE  Hospital.  —  S.D.Warren,  Trustee.  —  Donation  of  James  Mc- 
Gregor.—  The  Nabby  Joy  Fund.  —  Resignation  of  Dr.  Shaw. — 
Election  of  Dr.  N.  Folsom  as  Resident  Physician  of  Hospital. 

—  Remarks  on  the  Hospital  and  Asyluji.  —  Conclusion. 

At  the  meeting   of  the  Trustees  on  Feb.  22,  1867, 
Mr.  Kogers,  in  behalf  of  a  Committee  appointed  to 


628  NEW    SURGICAL    THEATRE. 

consider  what  arrangements  should  be  made  at  the 
Asylum  during  Dr.  Tyler's  proposed  absence,  re- 
'poried  "  that  they  had  instructed  Dr.  Whittemore, 
acting  Superintendent,  to  consult  Dr.  Morrill  Wyman, 
of  Cambridge,  and  Dr.  Bancroft,  of  Concord,  N.H., 
and  that  those  physicians  had  consented  to  serve  the 
institution,  as  Visiting  and  Consulting  Physicians, 
during  Dr.  Tyler's  absence.  The  Committee  also 
recommended  the  appointment  of  Dr.  James  H. 
Denny,  as  Assistant  Physician  at  the  Asylum,  for 
the  same  period."  The  action  of  the  Committee  was 
confirmed,  and  Dr.  Denny  was  elected. 

On  March  8,  a  Committee  of  the  Trustees  was 
appointed  to  inquire  and  report  "  whether  the  con- 
duct of  the  oflB.cers,  and  the  treatment  of  the  patients, 
at  the  Asylum,  are,  in  all  respects,  humane,  con- 
siderate, and  faithful."  Mr.  Rogers,  for  the  Com- 
mittee, on  March  22,  reported  a  plan,  with  estimates 
of  cost,  for  the  proposed  new  surgical  theatre ;  and 
a  special  meeting  was  ordered  for  considering  and 
acting  thereon.  At  such  a  meeting,  on  March  27, 
the  Board  voted  "  that  it  is  expedient  to  erect,  on 
the  Hospital  grounds,  a  building  for  surgical  opera- 
tions, and  for  the  accommodation  of  out-door  patients  ; 
and  that  the  plans  and  estimates  for  such  a  building, 
presented  to  the  Board,  be  adopted."  Messrs.  Rogers, 
Bullard,    and    Storrow   were    appointed    a    Building 


PURCHASE  OF  THE  BARRELL  FARM.       629 

Committee,  with  full  power  in  the  case,  the  expense 
not  to  exceed  fifty  thousand  dollars.  The  Rules  and 
Regulations  for  the  Hospital  were  amended  so  as  to 
provide  for  the  annual  election  of  six  House  Pupils, 
two  for  the  medical,  and  four  for  the  surgical  depart- 
ment. On  April  12,  Dr.  J.  Mason  Warren  addressed 
a  note  to  the  Board  enclosing  $2,000  towards  the 
cost  of  the  new  surgical  theatre.  Thanks  were  re- 
turned to  him,  and,  through  him,  to  the  contributors 
of  that  gift.  On  April  19,  Dr.  Warren  presented 
to  the  Board  a  copy  of  his  new  work,  entitled 
"  Surgical  Observations,  with  Cases  and  Operations," 
dedicated  to  the  officers  of  the  Hospital  Corporation. 
Thanks  were  voted  for  the  gift,  —  the  book  to  be 
deposited  in  the  Treadwell  Library.  A  proposition 
had  been  suggested  to  charge  medical  students  a 
fee  for  admission  to  the  lectures  and  operations  at 
the  Hospital.  A  report  of  a  Committee,  which 
thought  it  inexpedient  to  do  this,  was  approved  by 
the  Board.  The  Committee  "  on  the  conduct  of 
officers,  and  the  treatment  of  patients  at  the  Asy- 
lum," made  a  full  report,  which  was  accepted  and 
placed  on  file,  on  May  3.  On  that  date,  Mr.  Bullard, 
for  a  Committee,  reported  the  purchase  of  the 
"  Barrell  Farm,"  adjoining  the  Asylum  grounds,  for 
$40,000.  The  purchase  was  approved  and  con- 
firmed.    Mr.  Beebe  was,  on  May  17,  elected  tempo- 


680  FEMALE    STUDENTS    AT    HOSPITAL. 

rary  Chairman  of  the  Board  during  Mr.  Rogers's 
proposed  absence  abroad.  Mr  Rogers  had  sought 
to  resign  that  place,  but,  by  request  of  the  Board, 
had  consented  to  withdraw  his  resignation.  Mr. 
Beebe  was  added  to  the  Building  Committee  of  the 
Surgical  Theatre.  Messrs.  Beebe,  Bullard,  and  Eliot 
were  instructed  to  consider  and  report  upon  the  sub- 
ject of  religious  services  at  the  Asylum.  At  the 
meeting  of  the  Board  on  May  17,  a  letter  from  Hon. 
Charles  G.  Loring  had  been  read,  recommending  the 
admission  of  Miss  Sophia  Blake  to  "  the  medical 
visitations  at  the  Hospital ; "  also  a  note  from  Miss 
Blake  and  Susan  Dimmock,  asking  leave  to  share  the 
educational  advantages  of  the  Hospital,  especially  in 
the  female  wards.  The  subject  had  been  referred  to 
the  Visiting  Committee,  with  the  addition  of  Mr. 
Eliot,  whose  report,  recommending  the  passage  of 
the  three  following  resolutions,  was  adopted  by  the 
Board,  on  June  28  :  — 

1.  "  That  Chap.  III.,  Art.  3,  of  the  Rules  and  Regulations 
for  the  Hospital,  may  be  so  interpreted  as  to  include  female, 
as  well  as  male  students.  2.  That  the  admission  of  female 
students  be  left  to  the  discretion  of  the  Visiting  Physicians 
and  Surgeons,  individually.  3.  That  female  students,  when- 
ever admitted,  shall  be  placed  in  classes  separate  from  male 
students,  and  shall  attend  the  clinical  practice  of  the  female 
wards  exclusively." 

At  the   meeting   of  the    Board    on  Aug.    30,  the 


DEATH    OF    DR.    J.    MASON    WARREN.  631 

following  preamble   and  resolutions,  offered  by  Mr. 
Eliot,  were  unanimously  adopted  :  — 

"  The  Trustees  of  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital,  at 
this  their  first  meeting  after  the  death  of  Dr.  J.  Mason 
Warren,  in  noticing  an  event  so  generally  lamented  by  the 
community,  and  so  particularly  afflicting  to  the  Hospital, 
resolve  as  follows  :  — 

"1.  That  they  bear  their  united  testimony  to  the  variety 
and  excellence  of  the  services  which  Dr.  Warren  has  rendered 
to  the  Hospital  for  nearly  twenty-one  years  as  a  member, 
and  nearly  five  years  as  the  head,  of  its  professional  staff. 
Fitted  no  less  by  nature,  than  by  descent,  for  a  high  position 
in  his  profession,  uniting  great  gifts  with  great  acquirements, 
and  using  his  scientific  abilities  with  a  vigor  that  commanded 
respect,  and  a  kindliness  that  inspired  attachment,  he  was 
remarkable  even  among  the  remarkable  Physicians  and  Sur- 
geons who  have  been  connected  with  the  Hospital. 

"  2.  That  they  dwell  with  peculiar  feeling  upon  the  last 
proofs  of  his  interest  in  the  institution  :  upon  the  dedication 
of  his  recent  volume,  describing  the  most  eminent  among  his 
life-long  labors,  to  the  government  of  the  Hospital ;  upon 
the  subscription  of  $2,000,  which  he  secured  in  aid  of  the 
operating  theatre  now  building ;  yet  more  upon  the  fidelity 
with  which  he  went  through  his  last  term  of  service,  though 
suffering  acutely  from  the  development  of  the  disease  under 
which  he  died  ;  all  of  these  acts  being  not  only  consistent 
with  his  unbroken  devotion  to  the  Hospital,  but  likewise 
characteristic  of  the  science,  the  liberality,  and  the  consci- 
entiousness which  distinguished  his  whole  career. 

"3.  That,  speaking  for  other  interests  as  well  as  for  those 
of  the  Hospital,  they  lament  the  early  close  of  a  life  from 
which,  though  it  had  already  done  its  full  share,  even  more 


632  THE    HOSPITAL   NOT    A    STATE    CHARITY. 

might  have  been  expected,  had  it  continued  but  a  few  years 
longer  in  ministrations  to  the  sick  and  the  poor,  in  the  reHef 
of  suffering,  in  the  promotion  of  medical  science,  and  in  the 
furtherance  of  public  and  private  designs  for  the  improve- 
ment of  society.  Yet,  while  lamenting  that  the  life  on  earth 
has  closed,  they  rejoice  that  the  memory  of  their  departed 
associate  will  not  fail  to  live  among  those  who  knew  him, 
and  those  who  are  to  come  after  him. 

"  Voted f  That  the  Secretary  be  requested  to  communicate 
the  resolutions  to  the  family  of  the  deceased,  and  to  furnish 
a  copy  to  the  public  press. 

"  Voted,  That  Messrs.  Lowell  and  Eliot  be  a  Committee 
to  prepare,  and  report  at  the  next  quarterly  meethig,  such 
resolutions  as  they  may  think  proper  to  express  the  feelings 
of  the  Board  upon  the  decease  of  the  last  survivor  of  the 
earliest  founders  and  officers  of  this  institution,  the  vener- 
able Dr.  James  Jackson." 

The  Massachusetts  Board  of  State  Charities,  hav- 
ing required  a  report  from  this  Corporation,  under 
chapter  243  of  the  Acts  of  1867,  the  Secretary,  on 
Sept.  27,  stated  "  that  he  had  in  reply  informed  the 
Board  of  State  Charities  that  this  Corporation  would 
make  no  report  unless  further  called  upon,  on  the 
ground  that  this  Corporation  is  not  a  State  Charity 
within  the  meaning  of  the  statute."  On  Oct.  18,  the 
nomination  by  Dr.  Tyler  of  Dr.  James  H.  Denny,  as 
second  Assistant  Physician  and  Apothecary  at  the 
Asylum,  in  place  of  Dr.  Hazelton  resigned,  was  con- 
firmed.    Dr.  J.  Collins  Warren,  in  a  letter  acknowl- 


^/^^^rm/  //S^'^^^^i^^^^^^' 


DEATH  OF  DR.  JAMES  JACKSON.        633 

edging  the  receipt  of  the  resolutions  passed  by  the 
Board  on  the  death  of  his  late  father,  informed  the 
Board  of  a  legacy  under  his  father's  will,  to  the  Trus- 
tees, of  12,000,  to  be  called  the  "Warren  Prize 
Fund."  The  communication  was  referred  for  future 
consideration.  On  Oct.  18,  Mr.  EUot,  for  a  Com- 
mittee, offered  the  following  preamble  and  reso- 
lutions :  — 

"The  death  of  Dr.  James  Jackson,  one  of  the  founders 
of  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital  and  its  first  Phy- 
sician, whose  active  service  extended  from  April  6,  1817,  to 
Oct.  13,  1837,  and  who,  as  Consulting  Physician,  was  con- 
nected with  the  Institution  to  the  close  of  his  earthly  life, 
Aug.  27,  1867,  is  an  event  of  so  singular  and  so  affecting  an 
interest  to  the  Hospital,  that  the  Trustees  have  delayed 
noticing  it  officially  until  a  quarterly  meeting  should  draw 
them  together  in  full  numbers.  They  can  add  nothing  to  his 
well-deserved  i-eputation,  but  they  perform  an  act  of  simple 
duty  in  offering  a  sincere  and  grateful  tribute  to  his  honored 
memory. 

"  Resolved,  That  the  Trustees  of  the  Massachusetts 
General  Hospital  recall,  with  deep  sensibility,  Dr.  Jackson's 
long  connection  with  the  Institution,  which  he  was  prominent 
in  founding  and  extending,  and  to  which,  while  he  retained 
his  powers,  he  gave  the  great  benefit  of  his  name,  his 
science,  his  advice,  and  his  influence. 

^^  Resolved,  That  his  remarkable  traits  as  a  Physician, 
well-known  and  appreciated  before  the  Hospital  was  founded, 
and  fully  acknowledged  during  the  half-century  of  its  exist- 
ence, have   been  of  inestimable  value  to  its  administration 

not  only  during  the  term  of  his  attendance  in  our  wards,  but 

80 


634  TRIBUTE    TO    DR.    JAMES    JACKSON. 

in  the  subsequent  period,  during  which  his  counsel  and  sup- 
port, while  he  could  give  them,  have  never  failed  our  prede- 
cessors or  ourselves. 

^^ Resolved,  That  his  personal  as  well  as  his  professional 
qualities,  his  activity  without  imprudence,  his  decision  with- 
out dogmatism,  his  dignity  that  never  wounded,  his  consci- 
entiousness that  never  provoked,  his  exhaustless  sympathies, 
which  made  him  the  brother  or  the  father,  as  well  as  the 
physician  of  those  to  whom  he  ministered,  bearing  their 
troubles  as  his  own,  and  alleviating  by  the  charm  of  his 
presence  the  pains  which  he  could  not  remove  by  his  skill, 
his  unwearied  study,  his  fruitful  knowledge,  his  contributions 
to  the  science  and  literature  of  medicine,  and  his  relations  to 
the  elder  and  younger  members  of  the  profession,  gave  him  a 
position  at  the  Hospital  as  exclusively  his  own  as  that  which 
he  held  in  the  community. 

^^  Resolved,  That  his  labors,  as  efficient  as  they  were 
devoted,  and  his  counsels,  as  wise  as  they  were  earnest, 
renderino:  him  both  the  ornament  and  the  safesjuard  of  the 
Hospital,  are  among  its  most  precious  traditions,  and  that 
they  are  to  be  cherished  for  the  sake  not  merely  of  its  past 
history,  which  they  had  so  large  a  share  in  forming,  but  of 
its  future  course,  to  which,  if  they  are  faithfully  preserved, 
they  will  be  the  helpful  guides. 

"  Resolved,  That  the  Trustees  remove  his  name  from  the 
list  of  their  living  associates,  only  to  place  it,  where  it  be- 
longs, at  the  head  of  the  departed  benefactors  of  the  Hos- 
pital. And  to  the  end  that  his  memory  may  continue  among 
us,  as  we  think  he  would  have  best  preferred  it  to  continue, 
the  free  bed  which  was  placed  in  1^37  at  his  disposal  for 
life  shall  remain  the  Jackson  Free  Bed,  perpetuating  his 
attachment  to  the  Hospital,  and  his  benevolence  to  hu- 
manity." 


RELIGIOUS    SERVICES    AT    ASYLUM.  635 

These  resolutions  having  been  unanimously 
adopted,  the  Secretary  was  directed  to  communicate 
them  to  the  family,  and  to  furnish  a  copy  to  the  public 
press. 

Mr.  F.  H.  Jackson,  son  of  Dr.  Jackson,  communi- 
cated to  the  Board  a  bequest  from  his  late  father  to 
the  Hospital,  of  a  portrait  of  M.  Louis,  of  Paris. 
The  same  was  gratefully  accepted,  and  placed  upon 
the  walls  of  the  Hospital.  It  was  voted  that  the 
nomination  to  the  Jackson  Free  Bed  be  vested  in  the 
oldest  daughter  of  the  deceased. 

On  Nov.  15,  Mr.  Beebe,  for  a  Committee  that  had 
been  appointed  in  May,  upon  the  subject  of  religious 
services  at  the  Asylum,  made  a  report,  on  which  the 
Board  resolved  that  it  is  expedient  to  establish  such 
services  ;  that  they  should  be  wholly  free  from  a  sec- 
tarian character ;  that  the  Committee  procure  plans 
and  estimates  for  a  chapel  at  the  Asylum,  the  present 
hall  to  be  in  the  mean  while  used  for  the  purpose ; 
and  that  the  Committee  consult  with  the  Superin- 
tendent with  regard  to  a  chaplain  ^ro  tem.^  and  for  a 
suitable  incumbent  of  the  office.  Mr.  Whitney  hav- 
ing resigned  his  place  on  the  Board,  and  being 
unwilling  when  solicited  to  remain,  his  resignation 
was  accepted  with  much  regret  on  Nov.  29,  and  with 
thanks  for  his  long  and  useful  services. 

Messrs.  Beebe  and  Dalton  were  appointed  on  Dec. 


636  REPORT    FOR    1867. 

27,  a  Committee  to  prepare  the  amiual  report.  The 
nomination  by  the  Committee  of  Rev.  David  G.  Has- 
kins'to  the  office  of  Chaplain,  pro  tern.,  at  the  Asylum, 
was  confirmed  on  Jan.  17,  1868.  Dr.  Charles  E. 
Ware  declined  to  be  a  candidate  for  re-election  as 
a  Visiting  Physician,  and  could  not  be  induced,  by  a 
Committee  appointed  for  the  purpose,  to  withdraw 
his  letter  of  resignation. 

The  annual  meeting  of  the  Corporation  was  held 
on  Feb.  5,  1868,  and  the  first  subsequent  meeting  of 
the  Trustees  was  on  Feb.  21.  The  only  change  in 
the  officers  of  the  Corporation  was  in  the  election  of 
Mr.  Edmund  Dwight  in  place  of  Mr.  H.  A.  Whitney 
as  a  Trustee. 

The  annual  report  of  the  Trustees  for  1867,  it 
being  the  fifty-fourth  of  the  series,  is  a  document  of 
much  interest  in  its  contents.  The  death  of  Dr.  J. 
Mason  Warren,  and  that  of  the  venerated  Dr.  James 
Jackson,  are  properly  the  first  subjects  of  respectful 
notice.  The  former,  besides  his  active  efforts  in  aid 
of  the  new  operating  theatre,  now  in  progress,  left  a 
bequest  of  $2,000  as  a  fund  for  a  prize  to  be  called 
the  Warren  prize,  in  memory  of  his  father,  the 
interest  of  which,  every  three  years,  is  to  be  awarded 
for  the  best  dissertation  considered  worthy  of  a  pre- 
mium, on  some  subject'  in  physiology,  surgery,  or 
pathological  anatomy.     The  bequest  by  Dr.  Jackson 


REPORT    FOR    18G7.  637 

of  the  portrait  of  M.  Louis  has  been  already  men- 
tioned.    The  portrait  was   a  gift  from  M.  Louis,  in 
1833,  to  a  son  of  Dr.  Jackson,  who  had  died  in  early 
manhood.     Dr.  Jackson  "  valued  this  picture    more 
highly  than  any  thing  that  he  owned."      When  M. 
Louis  heard  what  disposition  had  been  made  of  it 
"  he  expressed  himself  as  highly  pleased."     The  new 
operating  theatre  is  said  to  be  nearly  completed.     A 
safe  and  commodious  elevator  has  been  constructed 
by  which  patients  can  be  taken  from  any  story  of  the 
building  and  along  covered  galleries  to  the  new  room. 
The  structure  contains  in  addition  convenient  apart- 
ments for  receiving  patients  before  and  after  opera- 
tions, rooms  for  etherization,  for  sulphur  and  other 
baths,   rooms    for   out-patients,    a   private    operating 
room,  and  offices   for  the  surgeons  and  physicians. 
Science  and  humanity  will  find  the  most  efficient  aids 
in   the   new    arrangements,    beyond   what  had   been 
afforded  in  the  old  operating  room  under  the  dome 
of  the  Hospital.     The  income  for  the  year  had  been 
$204,059.56;    the  expenditures,    $194,843.36.     The 
property,  real  and  productive,  is  valued  at  $1,154,- 
836.14.     Still  the  expenses  of  the  Hospital  depart- 
ment had  exceeded  its  income  by  $15,664.97.     The 
additional  subscriptions  for  the  year  to  the  Free-bed 
Fund  were  $3,900;  but  the  cost  of  them  had  exceeded 
all  the  income  for  them  by  nearly  twenty  per  cent. 


fi38  DR.  Tyler's  foreign  tour. 

The  donations  and  legacies  during  the  year  had 
amounted  to  |43,312.75.  There  had  been  1,301 
patients  in  the  Hospital.  Of  surgical  out-patients 
there  had  been  2,569;  of  medical,  2,957.  More  than 
one  half  of  all  the  cases  received  at  the  Hospital  had 
been  cured.  At  the  Asylum,  89  new  patients  had 
been  admitted  ;  178  remained.  Dr.  Tyler  had  been 
abroad  from  February  to  October,  and  expresses  his 
gratitude  to  the  Trustees  for  affording  him  the  privi- 
lege, and  for  making  such  admirable  and  efficient 
arrangements  for  the  oversight  of  his  charge  during 
his  absence.  Though  the  great  object  of  his  vacation 
was  to  lose  sight  for  a  season  of  hospital  life,  yet  his 
inclination  and  his  opportunity  led  him  to  make  many 
visits  with  extended  investigations  in  the  Asylums 
of  Great  Britain  and  the  continent.  He  had  been 
received  everywhere  courteously  and  fraternally.  As 
the  result  of  his  wide  and  inquisitive  investigations, 
so  fully  and  intelligently  directed  by  his  own  private 
experience  and  official  professional  authority,  we 
have  in  his  report  a  document  of  permanent  value  as 
a  contribution  to  the  highest  department  of  the  lit- 
erature of  his  theme.  Any  one  who  shall  for  years 
to  come  assume  to  discuss,  as  from  a  point  of  advan- 
tage or  influence,  the  comparative  views  of  insanity, 
and  of  the  methods  of  treating  it,  cannot  wisely  neg- 
lect to  read  this  report.     With  a  generous  catholicity 


ORGANIZATION    FOR    1868.  639 

of  spirit,  an  admirable  candor  of  judgment,  and  a 
most  discriminating  allowance  for  differences  of  opin- 
ion in  details,  where  there  is  a  general  harmony  on 
the  part  of  qualified  judges  in  the  case.  Dr.  Tyler 
presents  his  observations  and  conclusions  with  an 
emphasis  of  personal  assurance,  and  a  freedom  from 
dogmatism,  that  alike  give  a  charm  and  a  warrant  to 
his  expressed  convictions. 

Mr.  Rogers  was  re-elected  Chairman  of  the  Board 
of  Trustees.  On  the  Board  of  Consultation,  Dr.  J.  B. 
S.  Jackson  was  chosen  to  fill  the  vacancy  caused  by 
the  death  of  Dr.  James  Jackson  ;  the  Visiting  Phy- 
sicians of  last  year  were  continued  in  oflace,  with  the 
exception  of  Dr.  C.  E.  Ware,  who  had  declined  ;  and 
the  only  change  among  the  Visiting  Surgeons  was  in 
the  election  of  Dr.  Algernon  Coolidge  in  place  of  the 
late  Dr.  J.  Mason  Warren.  Dr.  Charles  B.  Porter 
was  chosen  an  additional  Surgeon  to  Out-patients  ; 
all  the  other  officers  of  the  Hospital  and  Asylum 
being  again  elected.  The  Chairman,  with  the  appro- 
bation of  the  Board,  designated  the  Standing  Com- 
mittees and  the  Visiting  Committees  for  the  year. 
Thanks  were  voted  to  Dr.  Charles  E.  Ware  "  for  his 
faithful,  efficient,  and  sympathetic  service  of  ten  years, 
as  Visiting  Physician,  and  for  the  unfailing  interest 
he  has  always  shown  in  all  matters  affecting  the 
usefulness    of    the    Hospital."      The   Treasurer  was 


640  TRIBUTE    TO    THE    DECEASED    PRESIDENT. 

instructed  to  establish  a  permanent  fund  for  the 
Warren  prize,  conformed  to  the  conditions  in  the 
bequest.  The  salary  of  the  Treasurer  was  increased 
to  $1,000.  The  death  of  Mr.  Robert  Hooper,  Presi- 
dent of  the  Corporation,  was  announced  to  the  Board 
on  March  6  ;  and  at  the  meeting  on  March  20,  Mr. 
Bullard,  for  a  Committee  appointed  for  the  purpose, 
reported  the  following  resolution,  which  was  unani- 
mously adopted : — 

"  That  while  we  acknowledge  the  mercy  of  God  in  the 
tender  manner  in  which  He  released  from  the  weariness  and 
infirmities  of  his  earthly  life  Robert  Hooper,  the  President 
of  this  institution,  the  event  cannot  fail  to  affect  our  sensi- 
bilities and  recall  his  long  and  useful  services.  Of  uncom- 
mon individuality  of  character  and  manner,  of  singular 
probity  of  mind  and  independence  of  thought,  of  large  and 
cultivated  capacities,  he  was  faithful  and  sagacious  in  all 
his  trusts,  most  honorable  in  the  conduct  of  affairs,  affection- 
ate and  tender  in  all  his  social  relations. 

"Mr.  Hooper  was  elected  a  Trustee  in  1837,  Chairman  of 
the  Board  in  1842,  Vice-President  in  1850,  and  President 
in  1863,  serving  in  these  several  offices  over  thirty  years. 
And  we  desire  to  record  our  grateful  sense  of  the  fidelity, 
ability,  and  sympathetic  interest  with  which  he  performed 
these  services,  and  to  bear  witness  to  the  deep  concern  he 
felt  in  all  that  affected  the  welfare  and  usefulness  of  this 
institution. 

"  Voted,  That  a  copy  of  the  foregoing  resolve  be  sent  by 
tlie  Secretary  to  the  family  of  the  deceased." 

Official  notice  w^as  received,  on  April  3,  from  the 


VISIT  OF  SUPERINTENDENTS  OF  ASYLUMS.    641 

Trustees  under  the  will  of  Mrs.  Abigail  Loring, 
of  their  readiness  to  pay  the  amount,  $35,000', 
awarded  to  this  Corporation.  The  award  was 
received  with  gratitude,  and  the  Treasurer  was 
authorized  to  receipt  for  it.  Messrs.  C.  H.  Parker 
and  W.  P.  Mason,  executors  of  the  will  of  the  late 
W.  P.  Mason,  having  paid  over  to  the  Corporation 
$10,000,  being  the  amount  of  a  bequest  provided 
for  in  said  will,  less  United  States  revenue  tax,  it 
was  — 

"  Voted,  That  this  Corporation  gratefully  accepts  the  same 
upon  the  conditions  of  said  will ;  and  that  the  Treasurer 
be  directed  to  establish  a  special  fund,  to  be  called  the 
'  Mason  Free-bed  Fund,'  the  income  of  which  shall  be 
annually  appropriated  to  the  support  of  free  beds  in  this 
Institution  ;  and  that  he  be  further  directed,  in  conformity 
with  said  conditions,  to  confer  upon  Mr.  W.  P.  Mason  and 
Mrs.  Walter  C.  Cabot  each  the  rights  of  life  free-bed 
subscribers." 

On  April  17,  permission  was  granted,  on  request, 
to  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society  to  hold  their 
annual  meeting  in  June  in  the  operating  theatre 
of  the  Hospital.  Measures  were  adopted  by  the 
Trustees,  on  April  24,  to  co-operate  with  Dr.  Tyler 
in  extending  proper  civilities  to  the  Association  of 
Superintendents  of  American  Institutions  for  the 
Insane  at  their  coming  meeting  in  Boston,  in  June. 
The  salary  of  the  Chaplain  at  the  Asylum  was  fixed 

81 


642  GIFT    FROM    MISS    M.    L.    SHAW. 

at  11,000.     On  May  8,  Dr.  A.  D.    Sinclair  resigned 
his   office   of  Physician    to   out-patients.     His   resig- 
nation was  accepted,  and  thanks  were  voted  for  his 
faithful    services.     Two   free    beds    at   the    Hospital 
were  placed  at  the  disposal  of  St.  Stephen's  Chapel, 
Boston,  on  the  payment  of  |2,000.     Dr.  Charles  E. 
Ware  was  elected  on  the   Board  of  Consultation  in 
the   vacancy  caused  by  the   death    of  Dr.   Homans. 
On  May  22,  Dr.  Henry  K.  Oliver,  jun.,  was   elected 
a  Visiting  Physician  for  the  remainder  of  the  year ; 
and  Drs.  Hall   Curtis  and  George  G.  Tarbell  were 
elected  Physicians  to   out-patients.     Miss  Sturtevant 
was  appointed,  on  July  31,  as  Matron  of  the  Plospital, 
in  the  vacancy  caused  by  the  recent  decease  of  Mary 
A.  Colesworthy.     The   Trustees  had  voted  the  sum 
of  two  hundred  dollars   to  Dr.  Morrill  Wyman,  for 
his  kind  services  at  the  Asylum  during  the  absence 
of    Dr.    Tyler ;    and,  in  grateful  recognition    of    the 
bounty.  Dr.  Wyman  sent  a  gift  of  the  same  amount 
for   the    aid    of    needy    patients    there.       A    faithful 
attendant  on  the  kitchen  of  the  Asylum,  on  leaving 
after  twenty-five   years  of  service,  received   a  present 
of  one  hundred  dollars,  with  an  appreciative   letter 
of    thanks.      On    Dec.     18,    acknowledgments    were 
returned  to  Miss   M.   Louisa   Shaw  for  the  donation 
of  $500,  "  for  the  Free  Bed  and  Ward  for  Incura- 
bles."    Messrs.  Dwight  and  Bullard  were,  on  Jan.  6, 


REPORT    FOR    1868.  643 

1869,  appointed  a  Committee  to  prepare  the  annual 
report,  and  to  them  were  referred  the  Treasurer's 
and  the  other  reports  as  successively  presented.  On 
the  report  and  advice  of  a  Committee,  on  Feb.  3, 
authority  was  given  to  sell  all  the  land  lying  east  of 
the  Eastern  Railroad  at  the  Asylum. 

The  annual  meeting  of  the  Corporation  was  held 
on  Feb.  3,  1869,  and  the  first  subsequent  meeting  of 
the  Trustees  on  Feb.  19.  Mr.  Edward  Wiggles- 
worth,  who  had  been  Vice-President,  was  chosen 
President ;  Mr.  Nathaniel  Thayer,  Vice-President ; 
and  Messrs.  Stevenson  and  Hall  were  respectively 
re-elected  Treasurer  and  Secretary,  and  the  Board  of 
Trustees  remained  unchanged.  The  Board,  on  its 
organization,  re-elected  Mr.  Rogers  as  Chairman. 
The  Board  of  Consultation  bears  the  name  of  Dr.  C. 
E.  Ware  in  place  of  that  of  the  late  Dr.  Romans. 
The  only  changes  made  in  the  staff  of  officers  at  the 
Hospital  and  Asylum  were  such  as  have  been  noted 
during  the  last  year,  except  in  the  choice  of  Mr. 
David  J.  Dearborn  as  male  Supervisor  at  the  Asy- 
lum, in  place  of  Mr.  Dexter  Gray,  deceased. 

The  report  for  1868  states  the  expenses  of  the 
Hospital  to  have  been  $67,564.47,  of  which  only 
$14,671.45  had  been  received  from  patients.  The 
expenses  of  the  Asylum  had  been  $142,535.36  ;  the 
net   deficit    of    income   below    expenses    had    been 


644  DR.    SHAW's    REPORT. 

$17,124.50.  There  had  been  1,265  patients  in  the 
Hospital,  of  which  771  were  wholly  free.  The  aver- 
age weekly  cost  of  each  w^as  $12.74.  As  out-patients, 
5,264  persons  had  been  treated.  A  Dental  Service 
had  been  added  during  the  year,  in  connection  with 
the  Dental  School  of  Harvard  College,  1,078  persons 
having  received  its  services.  The  Treadwell  Library 
has  a  constant  increase  by  the  addition  of  costly 
works  not  to  be  found  in  private  medical  libraries. 
The  Trustees  are  increasingly  solicitous  for  the  pros- 
perity and  advancement  of  their  institution.  They 
stand  between  the  bounty  of  a  rich  and  liberal  com- 
munity and  a  body  of  professional  men  of  great  skill 
and  self-devotion,  and  they  desire  to  be  the  medium 
of  a  great  benevolence  for  the  good  of  their  fellovv- 
men.  They  are  now  considering  whether  they  may 
be  able  to  afford  accommodations  for  the  treatment 
of  special  diseases.  The  death  of  the  President,  and 
of  the  Matron  of  the  Hospital,  is  properly  noticed. 

The  legacies  and  donations  received  during  the 
year  amount  to  $77,939.79.  The  receipts  for  annual 
subscriptions  for  free  beds  had  been  $4,300.  The 
Treasurer's  statement  gives  a  full  and  lucid  account 
of  all  the  classified  and  restricted  and  general  funds, 
with  an  exhaustive  exhibition  of  the  economy  of  the 
institution.  Dr.  Shaw,  the  Resident  Physician,  pre- 
sents  the   statistics   of    the    patients   with   the   usual 


DR.    TYLERS    REPORT.  645 

details  and  specifications.  He  refers  to  religious 
services  held  for  convalescents,  and  to  the  visits  of 
kindly  friends  to  the  patients  with  books  and  other 
offerings.  Dr.  Tyler  reports  that  270  persons  had 
been  under  treatment  at  the  Asylum,  and  176  re- 
mained. About  a  third  of  the  patients  have  attended 
religious  services  in  the  hall  on  Sunday  afternoons, 
receiving  thus  an  influence  evidently  soothing  and 
beneficial.  The  late  Supervisor,  Mr.  Dexter  Gray,  is 
spoken  of  with  warm  respect  and  aff'ection  for  his  vir- 
tues and  his  services.  He  had  intermitted  his  relation 
to  the  Asylum  to  serve  his  country  iii  the  war,  and  re- 
turned with  a  wound  which  was  one  of  the  causes  of 
his  lamented  decease.  The  Asylum  had  a  history  now 
of  fifty  completed  years.  Its  first  patient  —  whose 
case  the  Trustees  spent  three  hours  in  examining  — 
was  a  young  man  whom  his  father  believed  to  be 
one  of  those  spoken  of  in  the  Bible  as  possessed  with 
a  devil.  The  father  said  the  remedial  measure  which 
he  had  employed  was  whi2Jj)ing.  This  patient  com- 
pletely recovered.  There  are  now  about  seventy  like 
institutions  in  the  American  States  and  the  Provinces. 
Dr.  Tyler  makes  his  report  chiefly  a  condensed  and 
concise,  but  still  a  very  adequate,  sketch  of  the  his- 
tory of  the  Asylum ;  which,  as  a  whole,  is  a  pro- 
foundly instructive  illustration  of  the  application  of 
the  resources  of  Christian  benevolence,  munificence, 


64:6  LADY    VISITORS    AT    HOSPITAL. 

and  science  to  one  of  the  most  grievous  of  all  human 
woes.  The  Association  of  Medical  Superintendents 
of  American  Institutions  for  the  Insane,  having  met 
this  year  at  Somerville,  had  made  a  thorough  exami- 
nation of  the  Asylum,  and  of  its  methods  and  conduct. 
After  a  prolonged  discussion  of  the  "  legal  relations 
of  the  insane,"  they  unanimously  agreed  upon  a 
"  project  of  a  law  "  which  would  aid  to  assure  the 
prompt  care  of  a  patient,  the  protection  of  his  per- 
sonal liberty,  and  the  safety  of  the  public.  This 
document  appears  with  Dr.  Tyler's  report. 

The  Trustees,  on  March  19,  voted  that  the  Resident 
Physician  be  requested  to  prepare  for  publication  a 
simple  statement,  that  children  have  long  been,  and 
will  continue  to  be,  received  and  properly  cared  for 
at  the  Hospital.  After  the  Board  had  for  some  time 
had  under  consideration  the  appointment  of  two  or 
more  ladies  to  serve  as  visitors  to  the  female  wards  of 
the  Hospital,  on  June  4  the  measure  was  approved. 
Four  ladies  were  elected  by  ballot  to  that  service,  and 
a  Committee  was  appointed  to  confer  with  them  on 
their  proposed  duties.  It  was  voted  that  all  Hospital 
out-patients  affected  Avith  diseases  of  the  skin  be 
placed  under  the  special  care  and  treatment  of  Dr. 
J.  C.  White.  In  answer  to  a  suggestion  in  a  letter 
from  Dr.  Calvin  Ellis,  then  in  Paris,  relative  to  the 
purchase   of   improved    electrical   apparatus  for    the 


ADVERTISEMENT    OF    WARREN    PRIZE.  647 

Hospital,  the  Visiting  Physicians,  who  had  been  con- 
sulted on  the  subject,  reported  in  favor  of  the  propo- 
sition ;   and  the  Board,  on  June  18,  appropriated  two 
hundred  dollars  in  gold  for  that  object.     The  sum  of 
£300  was  put  at  the  disposal  of  Dr.  Henry  J.  Bigelow, 
for  the  purchase  in  Paris  of  surgical  instruments  for 
the  Hospital.     On  Aug.  20,  Dr.  Tyler  communicated 
to  the  Board  the  resignation  by  Dr.  James  H.  Denny 
of    the    office    of    Second    Assistant    Physician    and 
Apothecary   at   the   Asylum,   and   the  nomination   of 
Dr.  George  F.  Jelly  as  his  successor.     The  resigna- 
tion was  accepted,  and  the  nomination  confirmed.    On 
Oct,  1,  the  Board  found  it  necessary  to  increase  the 
number  of  physicians  to  out-patients,  and  chose  Drs. 
John  Collins  Warren    and  Robert  Willard  as    addi- 
tional officers.     On  Oct.  22,  Mr.  John  C.   Gray  re- 
ceived the   thanks   of  the  Board  for  the  donation  of 
$1,000  for  the  support  of  free  beds.     Messrs.  Farns- 
worth  and  Lowell  were  designated,  on   Dec.    17,   a 
Committee  to  prepare  the  annual  report.    On  Jan.  l-i, 
1870,  Mr.  Billiard,  for  a  Committee  on  the  "  Warren 
Prize,"  reported  a  form  of  advertisement,  which  was 
accepted,  as  follows  :  — 

"  Massachusetts  General  Hospital.  —  The  Warren 
Prize,  founded  by  the  Lite  J.  Mason  Wai-ren,  in  memory  of 
his  father,  Jt)hn  C.  Warren,  being  the  income  of  $2,000  for 
three  years,  will    be  awarded,  after  Feb.  1871,  to  the  author 


648  APPEAL    FROM    FAMILY    OF    DR.    MORTON. 

of  the  best  original  dissertation,  considered  worthy  of  a 
prize,  on  some  subject  in  physiology,  surgery,  or  pathological 
anatomy.  The  arbitrators  to  be  the  medical  board  of  the 
Hospital. 

"Dissertations,  accompanied  with  a  sealed  envelope  con- 
taining the  name  and  address  of  the  writer,  must  be  sent  on 
or  before  the  1st  Feb.  1871,  to  the  Superintendent  of  the 
Massachusetts  General  Hospital." 

On  Jan.  21,  a  Committee,  to  whom  had  been  re- 
ferred a  circular  addressed  to  the  Trustees  asking  a 
contribution  to  a  fnnd  to  be  raised  for  the  benefit  of 
the  family  of  the  late  Dr.  Morton,  and  to  pay  for  a 
monument  to  be  erected  over  his  remains,  reported 
a  form  of  reply  to  be  sent  by  the  Secretary,  which 
was  adopted,  as  follows  :  — 

"  The  Trustees  beg  to  say,  that,  while  they  are  deeply  sen- 
sible of  the  ijreat  blessinof  Dr.  Morton  conferred  on  mankind 
by  proving  that  sulphuric  ether  can  safely  be  used  to  produce 
insensibility  to  pain,  even  under  the  most  serious  surgical 
operations,  they  nevertheless  feel  that  the  appropriation  of 
any  portion  of  the  funds  of  the  Hospital  for  the  purposes 
named  in  the  circular  would  not  be  consistent  with  the  uses 
for  which  they  have  been  bestowed." 

The  annual  meeting  of  the  Corporation  was  held 
at  the  Hospital  on  Feb.  2,  1870.  The  only  change 
among  its  officers  of  last  year  was  in  the  election  of 
Messrs.  George  S.  Hale  and  Samuel  W.  Swett,  as 
Trustees   in    place    of   Messrs.  Lowell   and  Storrow, 


REPORT    FOR    1869.  649 

who  resigned  after  they  had  been  chosen.  The  report 
for  1869  shows  that  there  had  been  nothing  of 
special  or  marked  importance  in  the  recent  experience 
of  the  institution,  its  appropriate  work  having  gone 
successfully  forward  under  able  and  faithful  officers, 
Drs.  Shaw  and  Tyler,  with  their  valued  assistants. 
The  large  number  of  nurses,  whose  assiduous  and 
patient  duties  are  so  essential,  so  trying  and  exhaust- 
ing too,  are  not  forgotten,  though  their  names  are  of 
silent  fame.  The  expenditure  at  the  Hospital  has 
been  $62,238.60  ;  at  the  Asylum,  |138, 132.02.  The 
weekly  cost  of  a  patient  has  been,  at  the  Hospital, 
$10.14  ;  at  the  Asylum,  $14.20.  The  receipts  have 
exceeded  the  expenditures  by  $3,445.21.  Besides 
the  donation  from  John  C.  Gray,  the  further  sums  of 
$49,500  had  accrued  under  the  will  of  the  late  John 
Eedman,  and  of  $18,690.10,  under  the  will  of  the 
late  M.  P.  Sawyer.  There  had  been  admitted  to  the 
Hospital  1,390  patients,  of  whom  834  were  free  ;  of 
the  greatest  total  at  any  one  time,  of  139,  there  were 
98  free.  The  out-patients  treated  had  numbered 
6,953.  The  new  surgical  instruments  and  electrical 
apparatus,  selected  abroad  by  Drs.  Bigelow  arid  Ellis, 
had  been  received  with  much  satisfaction.  The  death 
of  Dr.  S.  D.  Townsend  on  Sept.  17,  and  his  long 
and  devoted  services,  are  appropriately  noticed.  The 
Resident  Physician  writes  :  "  What  cannot  always  be 

82 


650  DR.  Tyler's  report. 

said  may  be  said  of  him. —  that,  as  Consulting  Surgeon, 
he  always  punctually  and  conscientiously  attended 
the  consultations,  and  gave  his  advice  and  assistance 
in  the  most  important  operations." 

Dr.  Tyler  reports  that  there  had  been  under  treat- 
ment during  the  year,  at  the  Asylum,  284  patients, 
of  whom  184  remained.  He  regards  the  cases  of 
insanity  most  proper  for  his  Institution  to  be  the 
violent  and  dangerous,  and  also  the  recent  and 
curable.  The  soundness  of  the  general  principles  of 
treatment  adopted  there  is  year  by  year  verified.  The 
study  of  French  has  been  introduced  with  marked 
success  into  the  Asylum,  Madame  Harney  attending 
weekly  upon  separate  classes  of  either  sex.  Mrs. 
Bunker,  on  another  day,  has  classes  in  drawing. 
Mr.  Moorhouse  presides  over  an  orchestra  of  twelve 
or  fifteen  male  patients,  one  of  the  Trustees  having 
generously  given  instruments  for  the  purpose.  A 
"  singing-school  "  under  Mr.  Hadley  has  united  both 
sexes.  These  exercises  have  varied  the  inevitable 
monotony  and  cheered  the  weariness  of  life  within 
the  walls.  Flower-beds,  garden  grounds,  chickens 
and  ducks, "embroidery,  needle-work  for  the  poor,  the 
carpenter's  shop,  concerts,  readings,  dancing  parties, 
excursions  in  the  harbor,  festivals,  waxworks,  and 
observance  of  holidays,  have  furnished  their  resources. 
More  rooms  like  those    in    the  Appleton  wards    are 


ASSISTANT   LADY   VISITORS.  651 

very  much  needed,  as  also  an  amusement  hall,  and 
a  chapel.  The  religious  services,  under  E,ev.  D.  G. 
Haskins,  are  greatly  prized ;  their  omission  for  a 
single  Sunday  having  been  much  mourned. 

Mr.  E-osrers  was  chosen  Chairman  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees  for  1^70.     The  Board  of  Consultation  was 
changed  only  by  the  loss  of  the  name  of  Dr.  Town- 
send.    The  Medical  and  Surgical  Staff  and  the  officers 
of  the  Hospital   and  Asylum  were  the  same   as  last 
year.     The  Standing  and  Visiting  Committees  were 
designated  and  arranged.     The  resignation  of  Messrs. 
Lowell   and   Storrow   was  received  with  regret,  and 
thanks  were  voted  to  them  for  their  long  and  efficient 
services.      On   March    18,    the    resignation    of    Mr. 
James  L.  Little,  as  Trustee,  was  announced  to    the 
Board,  with  the  appointment  by  the  Governor  of  Dr. 
George  E.  Ellis,  to   fill  the  vacancy.     Thanks  were 
voted  to  Mr.  Little  for  his  valuable   services  during 
the  past  four  years.     Six  young  ladies  were  appointed 
as   assistant  visitors  to  the  female  wards  of  the  Hos- 
pital ;  viz..  Miss  Mary  I.   Bowditch,  Miss  Henrietta 
Townsend,  Miss  Helen  A.  Perkins,  Mrs.  Otto  Cuntz, 
Miss  Annie  Putnam,  and  Miss  Caroline  Young.     A 
communication  was  received,  on  April  1,  from  Dr.  J. 
C.  White,  resigning   the  office  of  Visiting  Physician 
of  the  Hospital,  and  asking  to  be  appointed  Physician 
to  a  department  for  skin  diseases,  which  he  recora- 


652  VOTES    OF    TRUSTEES. 

mends   to  Jpe  established  at  the  Hospital.     The  com- 
munication   was     referred     to    Messrs.    Rogers    and 
Bullard  for  consideration  and  report.     The  sum   of 
two  hundred  dollars  was,  on  April  15,  placed  at  the 
disposal  of  the  lady  visitors  of  the  Hospital  for  procur- 
ing pictures  to  be  hung  upon  the  walls  of  the  wards. 
On  May  6,  a  conference  was  asked  for  with  the  Vis- 
iting Physicians   and    Surgeons,  by  the  Trustees,  or 
a   communication  in  any  other  form,  on  the  subject 
of  the  proposed  department  for  skin  diseases.     The 
illness    of    Dr.  Tyler   made    it  necessary  to  procure 
assistance  for  Dr.  Whittemore  at  the  Asylum.     On 
June    3,    the    lady    visitors    of    the    Hospital    were 
authorized  to  visit  the  male  wards  also,  at  their  dis- 
cretion,    A  case   of  interest,  Avhich  had  occurred  at 
the  Hospital  in  connection  with  an  autopsy,  led  to  the 
appointment  of  a  Committee,  whose  report  was  ac- 
cepted   by    the    Board  on  July   15,  with  a  vote,   by 
which  the  attention  of  the  officers  of  the  Hospital  was 
called  to  the  rules  relating  to  autopsies,  and  another 
that  a  "  Post-mortem  Register  "  be  kept  to  meet  the 
requirements  of  those  rules,  —  each  entry  in  which 
shall  be  examined  and  signed  by  the  Visiting  Com- 
mittee, —  the  book  to  be  laid  before  the  Trustees  at 
their  regular  meetings.     The  Resident  Physician  was 
requested  to   keep  a  press  copy  of  his  official  corre- 
spondence, including  notices  to  relatives  and  friends 
of  deceased  patients. 


COMMITTEE    ON    FINANCE.  653 

Mr.  Dalton  made  a  communication  from  Dr.  Henry 
J.  Bigelovv,  presenting  to  the  Hospital  "  a  collection 
of  instruments  lately  procured  by  him  abroad,  which 
are  now  placed  in  new  cases  in  the  operating  theatre, 
at  an  aggregate  cost  of  about  three  thousand  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  dollars ; "  also  giving  "  the  further 
sums  of  one  thousand  dollars,  and  of  five  hundred 
dollars,  the  income  of  the  former  to  be  used  exclu- 
sively for  the  purchase  of  surgical  instruments 
required  by  the  attending  surgeons,  not  including 
••  apparatus,'  splints,  nor  general  appliances,  —  and 
the  latter  sum  to  be  devoted  to  the  maintenance  of 
a  free  bed  for  five  years."  It  was  voted  that  these 
very  valuable  gifts  be  accepted  with  gratitude,  and 
that  Mr.  Dalton,  with  the  Chairman,  be  requested  to 
communicate  the  fact  of  their  grateful  acceptance 
to  Dr.  Bigelow.  On  July  22,  the  resignation  by 
Miss  G.  W.  Mills  of  the  office  of  female  Supervisor 
of  the  Asylum  was  accepted ;  and  the  noniination  of 
Miss  Lucia  Woodward,  as  her  successor,  was  con- 
firmed. An  expression  of  high  appreciation  of  her 
services,  and  a  testimonial  of  approbation,  were  voted 
to  Miss  Mills.  The  Committees  on  Free  Beds  and 
on  Repairs  were  requested  to  consider  and  report, 
respectively,  "  on  the  advisability  of  preparing  a 
general  review  of  the  financial  wants  of  the  Hospital, 
with  a  view  of  appealing  to  the  public  for  contribu- 


654  GIFT    FROM    DR.    H.    J.    BIGELOW. 

tions  to  the  Free-bed  Fund,"  and  "  what  new  build- 
ings and  improvements,  if  any,  are  desirable  at  the 
Asylum."  The  Vice-president,  Mr.  Thayer,  was 
added  to  the  latter  Committee. 

On  Aug.  5,  Dr.  Robert  Willard  resigned  his  office 
of  Physician  to  out-patients  ;  and  his  resignation  was 
accepted.  On  Sept.  2,  the  Treasurer  announced  that 
he  had  received  from  Dr.  Henry  J.  Bigelow  an 
additional  sum  of  seventeen  hundred  and  fifty  dol- 
lars, making  the  whole  amount  of  his  donation  six 
thousand  dollars.     It  was  thereupon  voted, — 

"  That  the  Treasurer  be  directed  to  establish  the  Henry  J. 
Bigelow  Fund  in  the  sum  of  $1,750,  of  the  principal  of 
which  one  hundred  dohars -jaer  annum,  for  five  years,  shall 
be  appropriated  for  Dr.  Bigelow's  free  bed,  and  the  income  of 
whicli  shall  be  applied  annually  to  the  purchase  of  surgical 
instruments,  as  may  be  agreed  upon  by  the  Surgeons  and 
Trustees." 

Dr.  Bigelow  having  suggested  the  appointment 
of  a  Committee  of  the  Surgeons  to  have  the  care  of 
the  surgical  instruments,  &c.,  it  was  — 

"  Voied^  That  a  Committee  of  two  Surgeons  be  appohited 
to  take  charge  of  the  surgical  instruments  recently  presented 
by  Dr.  Bigelow,  to  make  future  purchases  of  instruments 
from  the  income  of  funds  provided  for  such  purpose  by  Dr. 
Bigelow,  and  to  make  such  rules  for  the  use  and  keeping  of 
the  instruments  as  may  seem  to  said  Committee  to  be  best." 


AVARD    FOR    SKIN-DISEASES.  655 

t 

l)rs.  Bigelow  and  Hodges  were  made  such  a  Com- 
mittee. The  instruments  here  referred  to  make  a 
collection  in  itself  of  a  curious  and  strangely  fasci- 
nating interest.  They  are  of  an  amazing  ingenuity, 
variety,  and  adaptation  ;  keen  of  temper,  brilliant  in 
polish,  mysterious  in  their  uses  to  any  but  experts, 
and  exhibiting  with  great  impressiveness  the  triumphs 
of  scientific  and  mechanical  skill.  Of  course  this 
impression,  with  the  accompanying  associations  and 
feelings,  are  very  unlike  for  those  who  gaze  upon 
them  in  safe  security  and  those  on  whom  their  use 
is  to  be  tested. 

A  legacy  from  the  late  E,ev.  Dr.  S.  M.  Worcester 
was  announced  to  the  Board  on  Oct.  14,  making,  with 
the  amount  given  by  him  during  his  life,  the  sum  of 
nineteen  hundred  dollars.  There  was  a  special  sig- 
nificance in  the  gift  of  Dr.  Worcester  from  his 
slender  means,  as  a  token  of  his  gratitude  for  the 
kind  care  which  his  wife  had  received  at  the  Asylum. 
Thanks  were  voted  to  Mr.  Walter  K.  Bigelow  for 
the  manner  in  which  he  had  carried  out  the  wishes 
of  Dr.  Worcester.  Dr.  Daniel  Hyslop  Hayden  was 
elected  a  Physician  to  out-patients,  in  place  of  Dr. 
Willard,  resigned. 

After  the  Board  had  given  a  full  and  deliberate 
consideration  to  the  subject,  with  the  help  of  a  Com- 
mittee and  a  knowledge  of  the  views  of  Dr.  Shaw 


656  GIFT    FROM    JOHN    L.    GARDNER. 

and  of  the  Medical  and  Surgical  officers,  it  was  voted, 
on  Oct.  21,  to  establish  a  separate  ward  for  the  treat- 
ment of  patients  with  skin  diseases,  and  to  appoint 
Dr.  White  as  Physician  to  that  department ;  it  being 
understood  that  the  measure  was  but  an  experiment, 
and  the  appointment  but  temporary.  Rules  were 
adopted  for  carrying  out  the  provisions  of  the  vote, 
in  the  arrangements  of  the  room  designated,  and  the 
disposal  of  patients  of  either  sex.  The  resignation 
of  Dr.  White  as  a  Visiting  Physician  was  accepted, 
and  Dr.  Edward  B.  Dal  ton  was  chosen  in  his  place. 

On  Dec.  16,  Messrs.  Ellis  and  Swett  were  ap- 
pointed a  Committee  to  prepare  the  annual  report. 
Dr.  Calvin  Ellis  sent  in  his  resignation  of  the  ^^ffice 
of  "  Microscopist  and  Curator  of  the  Pathological 
Cabinet,"  and  the  Board  accepted  it.  On  Jan.  13, 
1871,  the  Treasurer  announced  the  gift  of  ii^"i(),000 
to  the  Hospital  Free-bed  Fund  from  Mr.  John  L. 
Gardner,  whereupon  it  was  — 

"  Voted,  That  the  Secretary  be  directed  to  communicate 
to  Mr.  Gardner  the  thanks  of  the  Board  for  his  very  liberal 
and  timely  gift ;  and  that  the  Treasurer  be  directed  to  invest 
and  hold  the  same  as  the  '  John  L.  Gardner  Free-bed 
Fund.' " 

The  annual  meeting  of  the  Corporation  was  held 
at  the  Hospital  Feb.  1,  1871  ;  and  the  first  subse- 
quent meeting  of  the  Trustees  for  organization  was 


REPORT    FOR    1870.  657 

held  on  Feb.  17.  It  appeared  that  the  only  change 
in  the  officers  of  the  Corporation  froi^i  the  previous 
year  was  that  already  noticed  in  the  resignation  of 
Mr.  Little,  and  the  appointment  of  G.  E.  Ellis  as  a 
Trustee.  The  Trustees  re-elected  the  same  Boards 
of  Consultation,  and  of  Visiting  Surgeons  and  Phy- 
sicians, save  that,  on  the  last  Board,  Dr.  E.  B.  Dalton 
took  the  place  of  Dr.  J.  C.  White,  resigned.  Dr.  D. 
H.  Hayden  takes  the  place  of  Dr.  R.  AVillard,  as  a 
Physician  to  out-patients  ;  Dr.  Reginald  H.  Fitz  takes 
the  place  of  Dr.  Calvin  Ellis,  as  Microscopist  and 
Curator  of  the  Pathological  Cabinet ;  the  other 
officers  of  the  Hospital  being  re-elected. 

The  report  for  1870,  being  the  fifty-seventh,  notices 
the  changes  in  the  Board  of  Trustees  already  specified. 
The  Treasurer  congratulates  himself  and  the  Corpo- 
ration that  he  is  able  this  year  to  make  the  most  favor- 
able statement  of  the  financial  affairs  of  the  institution 
which  it  has  been  in  his  power  to  present  since  he 
had  filled  the  office,  —  he  was  elected  Feb.  18,  1859. 
The  income  of  the  property  had  exceeded  the  ex- 
penses of  the  two  departments  by  $9,126.19.  The 
average  number  of  patients  at  the  Hospital  had  been 
120^;  weekly  cost  of  each  patient,  f  10.0 J:.  Average 
number  at  the  Asylum,  187  ;  weekly  cost  of  each, 
f  1'3.81.  The  dividends,  interest,  and  rent  amounted 
to  |38,334:.18,  being  1.10  per  cent  on  the  investments. 

83 


658  REPORT    FOR    1870. 

The  donations  and  legacies  received  during  the  year 
amounted  to  $49,074.85 ;  and,  after  the  Treasurer 
had  closed  his  accounts  and  before  he  had  made  his 
report,  accrued  the  gift  already  mentioned  of  $20,000 
from  Mr.  J.  L.  Gardner,  and  another  of  $1,000  from 
Mr.  B.  T.  Reed.  The  lady  visitors  at  the  Hospital 
had  added  much  to  the  comfort  and  enjoyment  of  the 
patients.  The  Young  Mens  Christian  Union  had 
also  provided  for  them  dramatic  representations  and 
other  entertainments.  The  Committee  charged  with 
the  subject  had  reported  an  appeal  to  the  community 
for  increased  subscriptions  to  the  free-bed  fund, 
which  was  adopted.  The  Trustees  had  acted  upon 
the  subject  of  a  communication,  dated  Nov.  17,  from 
the  Surgeons,  expressing  their  views  on  the  manage- 
ment of  the  Hospital,  warming,  ventilation,  diet,  &c., 
and  asking  for  more  beds  for  the  Surgical  Depart- 
ment. The  temporary  and  experimental  measure  for 
the  treatment  of  skin  diseases  in  a  separate  ward  is 
referred  to.  Dr.  White  had  visited  during  the  year 
patients  by  such  diseases  2,045  times ;  the  new 
patients  had  been  638  ;  tlie  specifications  of  the 
diseases  treated  were  656.  There  had  been  treated 
during  the  year  7,370  medical,  and  2,192  surgical 
out-patients.  There  had  been  1,427  patients  in  the 
Hospital,  of  whom  958  were  free.  There  had  been 
under  treatment  at  the   Asylum  263  patients;    178 


RESIGNATION    OF    DR.    TYLER.  659 

remained  at  the  close  of  the  year.  Since  April,  Dr. 
Tyler  had  been  taken  from  his  duties  by  illness ;  and 
Dr.  Whittemore,  with  his  assistants,  had  borne  the 
pressure  of  responsibility.  Some  improvements  in 
the  treatment  of  mental  disorder  had  been  verified 
during  the  year,  and  the  well-established  principles 
and  methods  of  moral  treatment  had  received  new 
confirmation.  A  fund  had  been  contributed  by  some 
friends  of  the  Asylum  for  the  supply  of  amusements 
by  music  and  concerts.  Mrs.  S.  Cabot,  of  Brookline, 
had  sent  weekly  gifts  of  rare  flowers  during  the 
winter.  Other  ladies  had  participated  in  extending 
these  favors.  Rev.  Mr.  Worcester  had  officiated 
most  acceptably  as  chaplain.  Dr.  A.  A.  Porter, 
appointed  Assistant  Physician  in  June,  had  accepta- 
bly performed  his  duties  till  ill-health  had  compelled 
him  to  resign  in  November,  when  Dr.  F.  A.  Stillings 
succeeded  him. 

It  was  with  profound  sympathy  and  deep  regret 
that  the  Trustees  learned  that  Dr.  Tyler's  health  and 
strength  were  not  fully  restored  by  the  leave  of  ab- 
sence that  had  been  granted  him.  They  received 
a  note  from  him  on  Feb.  17,  resigning  his  office  as 
Superintendent  of  the  Asylum.  The  subject  was 
referred  to  Messrs.  Rogers,  Eliot,  and  Bullard,  for 
consideration  and  report.  The  election  of  officers 
for  the  Asylum  was    postponed.       Mr.   Rogers   was 


660  TRIBUTE    TO    DR.    TYLER. 

re-elected  Chairman  of  the  Board,  and,  with  the 
approbation  of  the  Trustees,  designated  the  usual 
Committees.  The  "  Benjamin  T.  Reed  Free-bed 
Fund"  was  established.  Three  dissertations  were 
presented  for  competition  for  the  Warren  Prize,  and 
they  were  referred  to  the  Medical  Board  for  exami- 
nation and  adjudication.  At  the  meeting  of  the 
Board  on  March  3,  the  first  business  being  the  elec- 
tion of  officers  for  the  Asylum,  the  ballots  were  all 
cast  for  Dr.  Tyler  as  Superintendent ;  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Whittle  being  re-chosen  Steward  and  Matron.  But 
the  hope  of  continuing  Dr.  Tyler  in  their  service  was 
at  once  precluded  by  the  following  report  of  resolu- 
tions proposed  by  Mr.  Rogers  for  the  Committee  :  — 

"  Resolved,  Tliat  this  Board,  after  due  consideration  of  all 
the  facts  and  circumstances  in  the  case,  accept,  with  great 
reluctance,  the  resignation  tendered  them  by  Dr.  John  E. 
Tyler. 

"  Resolved,  That  Dr.  Tyler,  during  the  thirteen  years  of 
his  administration  of  the  Asylum,  has,  by  his  professional 
skill,  sound  judgment,  self-sacrificing  spirit,  and  conscientious 
discharge  of  the  duties  of  his  arduous  and  responsible  office, 
not  only  maintained  the  very  high  standard  of  excellence 
which  this  Institution  had  previously  attained  among  similar 
institutions  of  the  country ;  but,  by  his  courteous  manners, 
well-balanced  temperament,  and  loving  heart,  has,  to  a  singu- 
lar degree,  won  the  esteem  and  affection  of  the  large  number 
of  patients  who,  from  time  to  time,  have  been  under  his 
charge ;    the  confidence    of  their    relatives   and   friends,  and 


RESIGNATION    OF    DR.  WHITTEMORE.  661 

the  respect  of  the  public  at  large.  And  therefore  this  Board 
deem  it  their  duty  to  tender  to  him,  in  behalf  of  the  Insti- 
tution, their  warmest  thanks  for  the  services  he  has  ren- 
dered ;  their  deep  regret  at  the  circumstances  which  make  him 
unable,  at  present,  to  perform  the  duties  they  would  have 
so  gladly  continued  to  him  ;  and  their  sincere  wishes  and 
prayers  for  his  speedy  and  complete  restoration  to  health 
and  usefulness." 

^^  Resolved,  That  the  Board  is  unwilling  to  conclude  its 
action  in  this  regard  without  noticing  the  valuable  voluntary 
services  rendered  to  the  Institution  by  Mrs.  Tyler.  In  their 
belief,  by  her  good  judgment,  her  quick  sympathy  and  con- 
stant kind  attentions  and  care,  she  has  done  a  great  deal  to 
soothe  and  mitigate  the  sorrows  of  the  patients,  and  promote 
the  happiness  and  welfare  of  the  household  ;  and  they  beg 
leave  respectfully  to  tender  to  her,  with  their  hearty  acknowl- 
edgments, their  personal  esteem  and  their  best  wishes." 

The  report  was  accepted,  the  resohitions  were 
adopted,  and  the  Secretary  was  directed  to  send  a 
copy  of  them  to  Dr.  Tyler.  Nor  was  this  the  only 
loss  the  Asylum  was  to  meet  with  in  this  emergency 
in  its  history.  Dr.  Whittemore  had  found  his  respon- 
sibilities so  arduous  as  to  impair  his  health,  and  he 
desired  also  to  go  abroad  for  professional  study.  A 
note  was  received  from  him  at  the  same  meeting 
resigning  his  office  of  Assistant  Physician.  The  same 
Committee  was  asked  to  consider  and  report  upon 
this  subject.  Mr.  Beebe  was  added  to  the  Committee 
to  consider  and  report  upon  filling  the  office  of  Super- 


662  TRIBUTE   TO    DR.  WHITTEMORE. 

intendent  at  the  Asylum.  Mr.  Dalton  was  requested 
to  consider  and  report  upon  the  subject  of  a  yearly 
publication  of  important  medical  and  surgical  cases  at 
the  Hospital. 

A  letter  was  received  from  Dr.  Tyler,  on  March  17, 
in  grateful  response  to  the  action  of  the  Board  at  its 
last  meeting. 

Mr.  Rogers,  for  the  Committee  on  the  resignation 
of  Dr.  Whittemore,  presented  a  report,  recommending 
the  adoption  of  votes,  the  first  of  which  follows. 
The  report  was  accepted,  the  votes  were  adopted, 
and  the  Secretary  was  directed  to  send  a  copy  to  Dr. 
Whittemore. 

"  Voted,  That  in  accepting  the  resignation  tendered  to 
them  by  Dr.  J.  H.  Whittemore,  Assistant  Physician  and 
Apothecary  at  the  Asylum,  in  order  that  he  may  be  at  lib- 
erty to  pursue  the  general  practice  of  medicine,  and  to  take 
place  on  the  first  of  July  next,  the  Board  desire  to  express 
their  entire  satisfaction  with  the  manner  in  which  he  has  per- 
formed the  duties  of  his  office ;  and  especially  would  they 
recognize  and  commend  the  ease  and  readiness  with  which  he 
assumed,  in  addition  to  his  own,  the  duties  and  responsibili- 
ties thrown  upon  him  by  the  illness  of  the  Superintendent, 
and  his  very  able,  wise,  and  faithful  conduct  of  them  since 
the  first  of  April  last.  With  a  deep  sense  of  obligation  to 
Dr.  Whittemore  for  these  voluntarily  rendered  services,  and 
a  high  appreciation  of  his  capacity  and  character,  the  Board 
beg  him  to  accept  their  best  wishes  for  his  future  happiness 
and  success." 


PROPOSED    RELIEF    OF    THE    ASYLUM.  663 

On  March  31,  Dr.  Whittemore  gratefully  acknowl- 
edged the  action  of  the  Board. 

An  effort  was  made  by  the  Trustees  on  April  14, 
by  the  appointment  of  a  Committee,  to  secure  the 
removal  of  at  least  ten  incurable  female  patients  at 
the  Asylum,  who  could  be  removed  without  injury  to 
them.  It  was  known  and  well  understood  by  the 
Trustees,  in  their  constant  visits,  that  there  were 
such  patients  within  the  walls  whose  condition  was 
hopeless,  who  would  be  as»well  provided  for  in  some 
other  institutions,  who  would  not  suffer  from  a 
change  of  place  and  surroundings,  while,  as  coming 
perhaps  from  outside  the  State,  or  from  other  cir- 
cumstances, they  had  not  as  strong  a  claim  to  be 
retained  here  as  some  other  applicants  had  for  admis- 
sion who  were  necessarily  excluded  from  lack  of 
room.  The  Committee  engaged  the  most  earnest 
attention  and  effort  in  the  matter,  and  put  themselves 
in  correspondence  with  the  friends  of  the  patients 
under  consideration.  But  very  slender  results  fol- 
lowed of  the  nature  desired.  It  was  found  very 
difficult  in  any  case,  and  impossible  in  most  cases, 
to  induce  the  friends  of  such  patients  to  consent  to 
their  removal.  In  one  point  of  view  the  incidental 
measures  brought  into  action  called  out  gratifying 
evidence  of  the  high  consideration  in  which  the  Asy- 
lum was  held  by  the  parties  concerned,  and  of  their 


664  AWARD    OF    THE    WARREN    PRIZE. 

full  confidence  in  and  grateful  appreciation  of  the 
kind  and  faithful  care  bestowed  upon  the  afflicted 
objects  of  their  solicitude.  The  fact  is  a  striking 
comment  on  one  of  the  inconsiderate  imputations 
upon  institutions  like  this,  as  forcibly  or  unnecessarily 
detaining  patients  who  might  as  well  be  discharged. 
The  Asylum  would  best  reward  the  hopes  and  labors 
of  its  friends  by  receiving  almost  exclusively  curable 
patients,  and  by  discharging  them  on  the  earliest  day 
on  which  their  restoration  is  assured.  But  it  must 
meet  the  wishes  and  needs  of  the  community  as  a 
merciful  refuge  for  many  incurables. 

A  communication  was  received  by  the  Trustees,  on 
April  21,  from  Dr.  Hodges,  announcing  the  award  of 
the  Warren  Prize,  by  the  medical  board  of  the  Hos- 
pital, to  the  dissertation  on  "  The  Physiological 
Effects  of  the  Nitrate  of  Amyl,"  by  Dr.  Horatio  C. 
Wood,  jun.,  of  ■  Philadelphia.  The  Treasurer  was 
instructed  to  pay  the  writer  of  the  dissertation  the 
amount  of  the  prize,  $388.  Dr.  Wood  was  per- 
mitted to  take  a  copy  for  publication,  on  condition  of 
returning  the  original  manuscript  to  the  Hospital, 
and  indicatiu"'  anv  additions  he  mii^ht  make  as  not 
having  passed  under  the  eye  of  the  Prize  Committee. 

The  continued  encroachments  by  railroads  upon 
the  grounds  of  the  Asylum  had  now  resulted  in  com- 
pletely    encircling    them    with    the    iron  tracks,  and 


RESIGNATION    OF    MR.    FARNSWORTH.  665 

dividing  tliem  so  as  to  make  them  unavailable  and 
dangerous  for  the  uses  for  which  large  portions  of 
them  had  been  purchased.  The  Trustees  were  com- 
pelled to  admit  the  almost  proximate  necessity  of  a 
removal  of  the  institution  to  another  site.  The  pros- 
pect of  this  necessity  also  prevented  the  Trustees 
from  making  any  plans  or  large  outlays  for  improve- 
ments, for  new  buildings,  or  even  for  repairs.  On 
April  21,  the  Trustees  voted  that  Messrs.  Eliot,  Dal- 
ton,  and  Ellis  be  a  Committee  to  make  such  inquiries 
as  they  deem  expedient  for  a  new  site  for  the  Asy- 
lum, and  report  to  the  Board.  A  Committee  "  on 
Improvements  at  the  Asylum,"  which  had  been 
appointed  nearly  a  year  before,  was  discharged.  It 
was  voted,  on  May  5,  "  That  the  Secretary  request 
the  Medical  Board  to  select  '  some  subject  in  phys- 
iology, surgery,  or  pathological  anatomy,'  which  may 
be  advertised  as  the  subject  for  the  next  Warren 
Prize,  if  approved  by  this  Board."  At  this  meeting  a 
note  was  received  from  Mr.  Farnsworth,  announcing 
his  resignation  of  the  office  of  Trustee  ;  and  it  was 
voted  that  the  Chairman  communicate  to  Mr.  Farns- 
worth the  appreciation  of  his  services  by  this  Board. 
The  Secretary  was  directed  to  communicate  this 
resignation  to  the  governor,  with  the  request  that  an 
appointment  be  made  to  fill  the  vacancy.  The  thanks 
of  the  Board  were  voted  to  Edward  Jackson,  Esq., 

84 


666  DONATIONS    AND    BEQUESTS. 

Treasurer,  for  a  donation  of  $450  from  the  Amateur 
Dramatic  Association,  of  Boston  ;  and  to  Miss  Homer 
and  others,  trustees,  for  the  manner  in  which  they 
have  conveyed  to  this  institution  the  sum  of  $1,000, 
being  a  bequest  from  the  late  Sydney  Homer,  Esq. ; 
also  to  George  Gardner,  Esq.,  executor,  for  the  man- 
ner in  which  he  has  conveyed  to  this  institution  the 
sum  of  $2,000,  being  a  bequest  from  the  late  James 
Read,  Esq.  The  Treasurer  was  directed  to  establish 
the  James  Read  Fund,  in  the  amount  of  $2,000,  the 
income  of  which  shall  be  annually  appropriated,  one 
half  to  the  support  of  free  beds,  and  one  half  to  the 
Asylum.  On  May  29,  temporary  arrangements  were 
made  for  the  superintendence  of  the  Asylum  till  the 
existing  vacancy  should  be  filled.  Dr.  Hall  Curtis, 
on  June  2,  resigned  his  office  of  Physician  to  out- 
patients. His  resignation  was  accepted,  and  Dr. 
William  L.  Richardson  was  elected  to  fill  the  vacancy. 
A  communication  was  received  from  Dr.  Hodges,  for 
the  Medical  Board,  informing  the  Trustees  that  that 
Board  had  passed  the  following  votes  :  — 

"  1st.  To  recommend  the  following  as  a  subject  for  the 
Warren  Prize  for  1874;  viz.,  'Experimental  Researches  on 
the  Elimination  of  Drugs  by  the  Mammary  Gland.' 

"  2d.  That  the  Trustees,  in  advertising  the  above,  or  any 
other  subject,  be  requested  to  announce  that  no  person  con- 
nected with  the  Medical  Board  of  the  Hospital  is  to  be 
regarded  as  a  competitor  for  the  Warren  Prize. 


SUBJECT    FOR    WARREN    PRIZE.  667 

"  3d.  That,  in  the  advertisement  of  a  subject  for  the  year 
1874,  the  Trustees  be  requested  to  give  notice  of  the  award 
of  this  year's  prize,  for  the  information  of  unsuccessful  com- 
petitors, as  well  as  of  the  public  in  general. 

"4th.  That  the  Trustees  be  asked  to  confer  with  the 
Prize  Committee,  Drs.  Minot,  Hodges,  Ellis,  Cabot,  and 
Warren,  in  regard  to  the  choice  of  medical  journals,  in 
which  the  subject  for  1874  should  be   advertised." 

This  communication  was  referred  to  the  Visiting 
Committee  with  full  powers.  On  June  10,  the 
Board  were  informed  that  Dr.  Ray,  of  Philadelphia, 
had  consented  to  act  as  temporary  Superintendent  of 
the  Asylum,  until  that  office  could  be  permanently 
filled.  On  June  30,  Mr.  Sweet,  for  the  Committee, 
reported  the  following  form  for  an  advertisement, 
which  was  approved  :  — 

"Warren  Triennial  Prize. 

"  The  Trustees  of  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital 
give  notice  that  the  first  Triennial  Prize  (amounting  to  $388) , 
from  the  fund  bequeathed  to  the  Hospital  by  the  late  Dr.  J. 
Mason  AVarren,  has  been  awarded  to  Horatio  C.  Wood,  jun., 
M.D.,  of  Philadelphia,  for  an  essay  on  'The  Physiological 
Action  of  Nitrate  of  Amyl.'  The  next  Warren  Prize  will  be 
awarded  to  the  author  of  the  best  essay  considered  worthy  of 
a  prize  on  the  subject  of  '  Experimental  Researches  on  the 
Elimination  of  Drugs  by  the  Mammary  Glands.'  Each 
essay  should  be  accompanied  with  a  sealed  envelope  contain- 
ing the  author's  name  and  address,  and  be  transmitted  to  the 
Resident  Physician  of  the  Hospital  on  or  before  Feb.  1, 
1874." 


668  ELECTION    OF    DR.    JELLY. 

The  Treasurer  was  requested  to  have  the  adver- 
tisement inserted  in  the  "  Boston  Medical  and  Sur- 
gical Journal,"  the  "  New  York  Medical  Record," 
and  the  "  Philadelphia  American  Journal  for  Medical 
Sciences." 

On  the  recommendation  of  Dr.  Shaw,  it  was 
voted,  — 

"That  the  article  and  tables  of  statistics  of  surgical 
operations  at  the  Hospital,  recently  prepared  by  Dr.  Chad- 
wick,  be  published  in  the  '  Boston  Medical  and  Surgical 
Journal,'  with  an  edition  of  five  hundred  copies  for  distri- 
bution, at  an  expense  not  exceeding  one  hundred  dollars." 

On  Oct.  13,  Mr.  Rogers,  for  the  Committee, 
recommended  Dr.  George  F.  Jelly  as  a  candidate  for 
the  office  of  Superintendent  of  the  Asylum.  The 
ballot  being  taken,  Dr.  Jelly  was  elected.  The  Chair- 
man was  requested  to  inform  him  of  his  appointment, 
and  his  salary  was  fixed  at  $3,000  per  annum.  The 
thanks  of  the  Board  were  tendered  to  Dr.  Isaac  Ray 
"  for  his  very  acceptable  services  during  the  last 
three  months,  as  temporary  Superintendent  of  the 
Asylum ; "  and  the  Treasurer  was  directed  to  send 
to  him  the  sum  of  fifteen  hundred  dollars.  On  Oct. 
20,  Dr.  Henry  P.  Quincy  was  elected  Artist  of  the 
Hospital.  The  Chairman  was  requested  to  confer 
with  the  Superintendent  relative  to  the  nomination 
of  two  Assistant  Physicians  of  the  Asylum,  and   to 


SKIN-DISEASE    WARD    CLOSED.  66i) 

consider  the  appointment  of  a  medical  student  to 
act  as  Assistant  Apothecary  without  salary.  Mr. 
Samuel  D.  Warren  took  his  place  at  the  Board  on 
Dec.  1,  as  a  Trustee,  by  appointment  of  the  governor, 
in  place  of  Mr.  Farnsworth,  resigned.  Dr.  John  E. 
Tyler  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Con- 
sultation. 

The  date  has  now  been  reached  at  which  it  was 
proposed  that  this  summary  sketch  of  the  more  im- 
portant incidents  in  the  history  of  the  Hospital  for 
the  last  score  of  years  should  close.  As,  however, 
between  the  writing  of  these  pages  and  their  passage 
through  the  press  several  incidents  of  interest  have 
transpired,  a  brief  record  of  them  may  properly 
follow  here. 

The  experiment  of  a  separate  ward  for  the  treat- 
ment of  patients  afflicted  with  skin  diseases,  though 
by  no  means  unsuccessful  in  its  especial  results,  was 
regarded  by  the  Trustees  as  open  to  some  general 
objections,  and  was  discontinued  at  the  close  of  the 
year.  Dr.  James  C.  White  had  on  his  own  part 
made  a  most  faithful  trial  of  the  experiment,  and 
had  devoted  to  it  his  skill  and  experience  in  his 
specialty.  He  continues  to  serve  the  institution  as 
Chemist  and  Physician  to  patients  with  diseases  of 
the  skin. 

Munificent  additions   were    made   to   the  funds  of 


670  BEQUEST    OF    MISS    JOY. 

the  institution  near  the  close  of  the  year.  Mr.  James 
McGregor,  of  Boston,  sent  to  the  Treasurer  the  sum 
of  $10,000,  which  now  constitutes  the  "  McGregor 
Fund,"  half  of  its  annual  proceeds  to  be  devoted  to 
the  Hospital  and  half  to  the  Asylum,  according  to 
the  wishes  of  the  donor.  The  executors  of  the  will 
of  Miss  Nabby  Joy,  of  Boston,  in  the  exercise  of  the 
discretion  according  to  which  she  had  directed  that 
they  should  appropriate  and  distribute  a  very  large 
sum  of  money  from  her  estate  among  various  objects 
of  benevolence,  put  themselves  in  communication 
with  the  Trustees  of  the  Hospital  in  reference  to  a 
proposed  donation  to  them.  At  the  meeting  of  the 
Board  on  Dec.  15,  1871,  the  following  proposition 
was  read :  — 

"  The  executors  of  the  will  of  Nabby  Joy  propose  to  make 
to  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital  a  donation  of  $20,- 
000,  to  be  appropriated  to  the  maintenance  of  free  beds, 
subject  to  the  payment  of  an  annuity  of  $500  for  the  benefit 

of during  his  life,  and  of  a  further  annuity  of  $200  to 

during  her  life  :  the  right  of  appointment  (subject  to 

the  rules  of  the  Hospital)  to  two  free  beds  to  be  in  the  exe- 
cutors during  their  joint  lives,  and  the  life  of  the  survivor." 

The  communication  was,  by  vote,  referred  to  the 
Chairman,  with  Mr.  Hale  and  the  Treasurer,  with 
authority  to  accept  the  offer  and  to  execute  the 
necessary  papers. 

Soon  after  the  organization  of  the  staff  of  the  Hos- 


RESIGNATION    OF    DR.    SHAW.  671 

pital  for  1872,  the    Trustees   were    compelled  with 
much  regret  to  contemplate  a  change   in  its  leading 
office   caused  by   the    resignation   of   its   incumbent. 
Dr.  Benjamin  Shurtleff  Shaw  had  been  elected  Resi- 
dent Physician  at  the   Hospital    on  May  23,    1858. 
For  most  of  the  time  since  that  date  he  had  been  also 
Acting  Steward,  the  Trustees  finding  practical  advan- 
tages in  the  union  of  the  two  offices  under  one  head. 
A  severe  domestic  affliction,  with  the  natural  weari- 
ness incident  to  the  continuous  discharge  for  so  many 
years  of  such  confining  duties,  led  Dr.  Shaw,  in  the 
beginning  of  April,  1872,  to  tender  his  resignation  to 
the  Trustees.     He  asked    to  be  relieved  as  early  as 
convenient  in  the  coming  autumn,  and  that  a  suc- 
cessor might  be   ajDpointed  ready  to   take  his  place. 
The  Trustees,  at  their  meeting  on  May  3,  accepted 
his    resignation,    and    instructed    the    Secretary    to 
express  to  Dr.  Shaw  "  their  grateful  appreciation  of 
his    long,    assiduous,    and    valuable    services ;    their 
regret  at  the  loss  this  institution  sustains  in  his  retire- 
ment, and  their  sympathy  with  him  and  Mrs.  Shaw 
in  their  recent  domestic  affliction." 

Dr.  Norton  Folsom  was  unanimously  elected  by 
the  Trustees  as  successor  of  Dr.  Shaw  as  Resident 
Physician  of  the  Hospital,  and  will  enter  upon  the 
responsible  offlce  though  young  in  years,  yet  with 
much  experience  hard  won  in  peace  and  war,  and 
with  many  favoring  auspices. 


672 


ASYLUM    BUILDINGS. 


These  pages  close  at  a  critical  point  in  the  history 
and  future  prospects  of  the  Asylum  at  Somerville. 
The  spacious  edifices  which  have  gathered  by 
enlargements,  and  the  erection  of  new  structures 
around  the  original  dwelling  purchased  by  the  Trus- 
tees, even  with  all  the  ingenuity  and  skill,  and  all 
the  large  outlays  of  money  spent  upon  them,  have 
never  been  regarded  as  wholly  satisfactory  in  their 
arrangements.  Successive  changes  have  had  to  con- 
form their  qualified  improvements  to  defects  and 
to  previous  conditions  in  the  forms  and  positions 
and  internal  structure  of  the  buildings  which  could 
not  be  altered.  Mr.  Bowditch  has  well  said  of  some 
of  the  labyrinthian  passages,  above  and  below,  that, 
if  the  oldest  Trustee  were  left  in  them  without  a 
guide,  he  could  not  well  find  his  way  out.  Still,  the 
edifice  bears,  from  its  foundations  to  its  domes,  a  sort 
of  history  of  the  course  of  the  wiser  science  and  the 
tenderer  humanity  which  have  gradually  been  brought 
to  the  treatment  of  insanity.  Some  of  the  old  strong- 
rooms, now  disused  except  for  the  autumn  stowage 
of  fruits  and  farm  vegetables,  present  us  one  page  in 
that  history  which  we  are  all  glad  to  forget,  as  we 
mount  from  them  towards  the  domes,  through  the 
sunny  and  cheerful  apartments  lighted  by  their  bay- 
windows,  with  their  fountains,  flower-stands,  and 
aquaria.     It  is  safe  to  say  that,  rating  money  at  its 


A    NEW    SITE    FOR    THE    ASYLUM.  673 

valuation  a  half-century  ago,  structures  of  the  same 
capacity,  and  with  far  ampler  conveniences,  might 
be  erected  for  less  than  half  the  outlay  that  has  gone 
to  those  edifices.  In  the  mean  while,  steadily,  with 
the  successive  purchases  by  the  Trustees  of  new  acres 
of  ground  around  the  Asylum,  their  intended  uses  as 
quiet  and  secluded  spaces  for  the  exercise  and  refresh- 
ment of  the  inmates  have  been  impaired  and  well-nigh 
prevented  by  the  encroachments  of  traffic,  with  its  noise 
and  its  risks.  Those  spacious  and  beautiful  grounds, 
with  their  fertile  soil  and  pleasant  undulations  of 
surface,  are  not  only  completely  encircled  by  rail- 
roads, but  their  breadth  is  twice  cut  through  by  them. 
When  the  first  of  these  railroads  was  opened.  Dr. 
Bell,  then  in  charge  of  the  Asylum,  had  the  gravest 
apprehensions  that  the  clatter  of  the  iron  wheels  and 
the  shrieks  of  the  steam-whistle,  combining  them- 
selves with  the  delusions  of  some  of  the  patients, 
might  have  a  very  deplorable  influence  upon  them. 
But,  contrary  to  what  might  have  reasonably  been 
feared,  very  limited,  if  any,  mischief  of  this  sort  has 
been  realized.  Yet  the  Trustees,  under  the  present 
condition  of  things,  have  been  brought  to  the  con- 
viction that  it  is  highly  desirable  for  them  to  find  a 
new  site  for  the  Asylum.  It  has  been  slowly  and 
with  reluctance  that  they  have  come  to  this  con- 
clusion.    They  have  realized  many  advantages  in  the 

85 


674  TREATMENT    OF    INSANITY. 

present  location.  The  proximity  to  the  city  has 
made  access  to  the  Asyhim  very  convenient  to  the 
friends  of  patients,  so  large  a  portion  of  whom  are 
from  the  immediate  neighborhood.  The  references 
made  in  the  preceding  pages  to  the  abundant  re- 
sources of  relaxation  and  amusement  furnished  to 
the  patients  show  a  large  dependence  upon  the  city 
for  making  them  convenient  and  varied.  But,  in 
deciding  upon  a  change  of  site,  the  Trustees  have 
hoped  that  it  may,  and  will  do  all  in  their  power  to 
insure  that  it  shall,  result  in  gain,  with  no  loss, 
to  the  best  interests  of  the  institution.  Our  architects, 
mechanics,  and  builders  will  find  themselves  engaged 
in  perhaps  the  most  exacting  demand  that  has  ever 
been  made  upon  their  skill,  ingenuity,  and  executive 
abilities,  in  meeting  the  wishes  and  purposes  of  the 
Trustees,  in  the  planning,  disposing,  and  completing 
such  structures  as  will  be  desired  under  conditions 
that  must  be  combined  and  harmonized. 

As  to  the  questions  still  kept  under  discussion, — 
not  always  judicious  or  discreet,  —  in  our  community 
and  elsewhere,  relating  to  the  internal  discipline 
of  an  asylum,  and  the  mode  of  treatment  which 
humanity  and  science  commend  as  best  for  the 
patients  and  most  satisfactory  to  theii*  friends,  all 
parties  to  these  questions  are  concerned  only  to  reach 
the  fair,  full  truth.     Putting  out  of  view,  as  a  matter 


TREATMENT    OF    INSANITY.  675 

of  course,  the  differences  of  opinion,  —  not  to  say 
the  prejudices,  —  which  are  found  to  influence  those 
whose  feelings  and  fancies  serve  them  in  place  of 
reflection,  experience,  and  candid,  intelligent  inquiry, 
there  may  yet  be  allowed  a  limited  range  still  left 
open  for  theoretical  and  practical  divergence  of  judg- 
ment on  some  of  the  subjects  involved  in  this  specialty. 
The  preceding  pages  furnish  abundant  evidence  of 
the  efforts  of  the  successive  Boards  of  Trustees  to  se- 
cure to  the  Asylum  the  services  of  the  ablest,  the  most 
accomplished,  and  the  most  devoted  men.  And  the 
series  of  Reports  of  the  Superintendents,  from  which 
summaries  have  been  sketched,  certify  to  the  quali- 
fications, the  fidelity,  and  the  self-consecrating  earnest- 
ness of  zeal  and  effort  which  they  have  given  to  their 
work.  Men,  in  whom  a  self-respecting  regard  for 
theu'  own  reputation,  and  a  conscientious  sense  of 
responsibility,  have  been  traits  so  evidently  prominent 
in  character  and  in  work  as  in  the  writers  of  those 
Reports,  are  not  likely  to  need  any  incentive  from 
the  community  to  quicken  them  in  the  search  for 
and  in  the  appreciation  of  any  new  methods  or 
appliances  for  the  advancement  of  their  science. 
Those  who,  either  as  partially  recovered  patients, 
or  as  the  friends  of  patients,  criticise  the  management 
of  this  Asylum  in  a  querulous  or  distrustful  spirit, 
will    naturally    urge    the    objections,    which   unpro- 


676  PROFESSIONALS    AND    IDEALISTS. 

fessional  jjersons  encourage  each  other  in  repeating, 
against  experts  and  functionaries  who  in  the  exercise 
of  their  trusts  have  common  principles  for  their 
guidance.  Such  officials  are  said  to  carry  their  pro- 
fessional rules  and  methods  into  a  rigid  and  un- 
yielding application  ;  -  to  become  formalists,  stiff  in 
their  prepossessions,  mechanical  in  their  theories, 
averse  to  changes,  and  mischievously  restrained  by 
an  esprit  du  corps,  which  makes  them  stoutly  con- 
servative, as  they  follow  routine,  and  shut  their  eyes 
to  new  light.  On  the  other  hand,  those  who  are 
thus  criticised  and  censured  turn  towards  their  ques- 
tioners with  a  silent  or  an  avowed  remonstrance 
at  the  presumption  which  so  positively  condemns  or 
distrusts,  without  due  qualifications  of  knowledge 
or  experience.  These  outside  critics  may  be  idealists 
or  theorists,  with  visionary  fancies  which  they  them- 
selves would  have  to  abandon  as  impracticable  if 
they  should  have  an  opportunity  of  testing  them  in 
trial.  These  theorists  and  idealists,  however,  are 
found  to  have  a  legitimate  and  sometimes  a  most 
effective  influence  for  good  in  very  many  of  the 
interests  of  society,  compelling  conservatism  and  pro- 
fessional and  official  routine  to  flow  with  the  stream 
of  progress.  Only  our  progressionists  sometimes  seem 
to  forget  that  we  can,  from  almost  any  outlook,  see 
into  spaces  where  there  is  no  foothold. 


DIFFERENCE    OF    METHODS.  677 

It  is  claimed  that  those  who  as  professional  experts 
have  had  the  oversight  of  the  insane  have  become,  in 
some  few  very  important  practical  principles  of  their 
science,  advocates  of  different  methods,  and  so  are 
now  divided  among  themselves.  Thus  we  are  told  of 
some  who  are  of  the  highest  repute  in  this  specialty 
who  disapprove  of  the  aggregation  of  patients  in  an 
asylum,  and  prefer  the  distribution  of  them  over  a 
rural  village,  and  in  cottages  where  more  personal 
freedom  is  enjoyed,  while  still  the  necessary  over- 
sight, with  more  hopeful  curative  results,  may  be 
obtained.  Also  a  few  asylums  are  adduced  in  which 
"  the  moral  treatment "  is  very  different  in  some  im- 
portant respects,  and  in  which  likewise  no  forms  or 
modes  of  physical  restraint  whatever  are  employed ; 
and  much  less,  if  any,  of  the  restrictions  heretofore 
considered  necessary,  are  put  upon  interviews  and 
correspondence  of  patients  with  their  friends.  The 
alleged  differences  of  opinion  and  practice  on  these 
points,  between  men  of  repute  and  experience  in  the 
guardianship  of  the  insane,  may  be  made  to  appear 
really  serious  when  stated  in  unqualified  terms  and 
brought  into  strong  contrast.  If,  however,  a  search- 
ing, discriminating,  and  candid  inquiry  is  brought  to 
bear  upon  the  facts,  we  discover  that  misunderstand- 
ing, misrepresentation,  and  a  wrong  statement  or 
coloring  of  the  truth  greatly  perplex  the  issue.     In- 


678  USE    OR    DISUSE    OF    RESTRAINTS. 

deed,  considering  how  largely  our  age  is  characterized 
by  individuality,  eccentricity,  and  the  love  of  novelty 
in  theory  and  practice,  and  by  the  spirit  of  rivalry  in 
adapting  and  commending  institutions  to  the  caprices 
and  whims  of  patrons,  it  is  somewhat  remarkable  that 
there  is  so  general  an  accord  of  opinion  and  method 
among  the  guardians  of  the  insane.  The  local  pecu- 
liarities of  some  communities,  and  the  former  condition 
and  habits  of  life  of  those  who  require  treatment,  must 
be  taken  into  account  in  deciding  between  an  asylum 
like  our  own  and  the  village  system,  like  that  of 
Gheel,  for  instance.  Again,  there  are  two  asylums  in 
England,  in  which  it  is  professed  that  recourse  is  in 
no  case  had  to  physical  restraint  in  any  form  of  it 
which  confines  the  body  or  the  hands  or  arms  of  a 
patient,  in  the  bed  or  out  of  it,  so  as  to  interfere  in 
the  least  degree  with  the  free  exercise  of  the  limbs 
within  the  walls  or  the  grounds  of  the  refuge  ;  and 
thus  it  is  said  all  the  fretfulness  and  exasperation 
which  excited  patients  feel  when  under  such  fetter- 
ings  is  saved  them.  But  there  is  no  satisfactory 
statement  of  the  substitutes  for  physical  restraint 
which  are  relied  on.  Such  substitutes  there  must  be  ; 
for  there  are  patients  who  would  exhaust  themselves 
by  intensely  excited  muscular  activity,  and  who  would 
never  occupy  a  bed  if  allowed  their  perfect  bodily 
freedom.     The  substitutes  which  suggest  themselves 


RESTRAINT    IN    THE    M'LEAN    ASYLUM.  679 

are  the  use  of  anaesthetics  and  drugs,  or  a  recourse 
to  the  restraining  power  of  the  presence,  the  voice, 
and  the  muscles  of  an  attendant,  —  perhaps  of  more 
than  one  attendant.  It  is  not  for  the  writer  to  plead 
or  to  arbitrate  in  this  issue.  So  far  as  the  method 
and  practice  of  this  asylum  are  concerned,  it  may  be 
said,  that  all  of  its  successive  superintendents,  disap- 
proving the  use  of  drugs  for  subduing  excited  patients, 
and  believing  that  a  sole  reliance  upon  the  muscular 
force  of  an  attendant  would  be  either  impracticable 
or  otherwise  objectionable,  especially  as  being  most 
irritating  and  offensive  to  the  patients,  have  reduced 
the  use  of  physical  restraining  appliances  to  the 
minimum. 

A  portion  of  a  report  made  to  a  Committee  of  the 
Trustees  by  Dr.  Jelly,  on  several  subjects  relating  to 
the  conduct  of  the  Asylum,  may  fitly  be  introduced 
here :  — 

The  '^  Bestrainf''  usedinM'Lean  Asylum  during  the  year  ending  Dec. 

31,  1871. 

"The  varieties  of  restraint  used  are  the  'Camisole,'  or 
'  Sleeves,'  which  restrains  the  hands,  prevents  violence,  and 
self-injury,  and  the  destruction  and  removal  of  clothing. 

"The  '  Mittens,'  used  for  the  same  purpose  as  the  '  Cami- 
sole,' which  simply  cover  the  hands  and  are  fastened  to  a 
belt  which  passes  round  the  waist. 

"  The  '  Wristers,'  which  surround  the  wrists  only,  allowing 
free  use  to  the  hands,  but  being  also  fastened  to  the  waist  by 


680  FORMS    OF    RESTRAINT. 

a  belt,  prevent  the  wearer  from  striking.  This  form  of 
restraint  is  used  generally  on  men  who  are  watching  every 
opportunity  to  strike  those  about  them. 

"  The  '  Bed  Straps,'  by  which  a  person  is  confined  to  the 
bed,  but  can  turn  on  his  or  her  side  and  move  up  and  down. 
These  are  used  in  the  most  violent  cases  of  mania,  where 
there  is  danger  of  exhaustion,  or  where  a  patient  will  not 
remain  in  bed  at  night;  and  in  desperately  suicidal  cases, 
where  the  presence  of  an  attendant  in  the  room,  or  the  wear- 
ing of  a  camisole,  are  not  sufficient  precautions. 

"In  suicidal  patients,  our  practice  differs  according  to  the 
severity  of  the  paroxysms  of  suicide.  In  mild  cases,  the 
presence  of  an  attendant  in  the  room,  sleeping  in  the  bed,  or 
in  a  cot,  or  on  a  lounge,  close  by,  is  considered  enough.  In 
more  severe  cases,  the  addition  of  a  camisole  is  necessary  ; 
while  the  very  severest  forms  of  suicidal  melancholia  are  not 
safe  without  the  bed  straps. 

"  Where  persons  can  be  made  safe  without  restraint,  they 
are  always  made  so  by  the  presence  of  attendants  in  the 
room,  or  near  by,  except  in  those  cases  where  the  patient  is 
too  filthy  or  violent  to  make  it  proper  for  an  attendant  to 
sleep  in  the  room. 

"In  addition  to  the  forms  of  restraint  already  mentioned, 
we  sometimes  use  a  chair,  for  violent  patients,  who  can  be 
allowed  to  sit  up,  but  who,  if  unrestrained,  throw  themselves 
on  the  floor,  beat  their  heads  against  the  wall,  or  otherwise 
injure  themselves. 

"  The  constant  effort  on  the  part  of  the  officers  is  to  reduce 
the  use  of  all  restraint  to  a  minimum,  to  use  it  only  for  the 
good  of  a  patient,  and  never  to  use  any  form  of  it  when  the 
presence  and  efforts  of  attendants  would  do  as  well. 

"  No  attendant  is  allowed  to  put  any  restraint  upon  a 
patient,  either  day  or  night,  unless  by  the  order  of  one  of 


FORMS  AND  MEANS  OF  RESTRAINT.       681 

the  officers,  with  the  exception  of  the  extremely  rare  cases, 
where  a  patient  is  suddenly  seized  with  a  severe  paroxysm  of 
violence,  rendering  him  or  her  dangerous  to  all  around,  as 
well  as  to  himself  or  herself.  In  such  cases,  if  an  attendant 
cannot  safely  leave  his  or  her  gallery  to  find  one  of  the 
officers,  he  or  she  is  allowed  to  put  on  a  camisole,  or  a  pair 
of  mittens,  never  any  thing  more,  which  must  be  reported  to 
one  of  the  officers,  for  his  approval  or  disapproval,  at  the 
very  earliest  moment  when  the  gallery  can  be  left.  The 
whole  matter  of  the  use  of  restraint  is  carefully  watched  by 
each  one  of  the  officers  of  the  Asylum. 

"  The  Night  Watchers  are  required  to  make  the  rounds  of 
the  house,  and  be  on  every  gallery  once  every  hour,  that  they 
may  be  ready  to  help  any  one  who  may  need  it.  They  are 
required  to  look  into  the  rooms  of  suicidal  patients,  and  of 
those  who  are  weak  and  feeble,  or  who  frequently  are  up  in 
the  night.  They  are  required  to  move  about  quietly,  and  to 
throw  the  light  of  their  lanterns  into  the  rooms,  but  not  upon 
the  face  of  the  patient.  They  look  into  only  about  one- 
fourth  of  the  rooms.  They  can  make  use  of  no  restraint, 
without  the  order  of  one  of  the  officers.  The  house  would  be 
very  unsafe  without  Night  Watchers. 

"During  the  year  ending  Dec.  31,  1871,  there  were  in 
the  Asylum  253  persons.  The  following  were  the  uses 
made,  respectively,  of 

THE    CAMISOLE. 

For  violence 2 

To  prevent  suicide 7  (at  night). 

To  prevent  removiog  clothing 4 

To  prevent  self-abuse 3  (at  night). 

16 

80 


682  SPECIFICATIONS    OF    RESTRAINTS. 


MITTENS. 

To  prevent  removiug  clothing 2 

To  prevent  suicide 3  (at  night). 

5 

"WRISTERS. 

To  prevent  striking 5 

THE    CHAIR. 

To  prevent  injury  to  self  and  exhaustion    ....     3 

BED    STRAPS. 

To  keep  in  bed  and  prevent  exhaustion  (at  night 
only) 11 

To  prevent  violence  and  exhaustion  (during  day  and 

night) 15 

To  prevent  suicide 6 

"  Making  a  total  of  61,  out  of  253  persons,  who  were  under 
restraint,  either  twenty-four  hours  or  one  night  at  least, 
during  1871. 

"  This  includes  all  the  habitual  restraint.  Occasionally  a 
patient  wears  the  camisole  or  mittens,  for  an  hour  or  two 
only,  on  account  of  some  special  outburst  of  violence,  which 
is  not  mentioned  in  the  records. 

"  George  F.  Jelly." 

As  to  the  restriction  upon  interviews  with  friends 
of  patients  from  outside  the  Asylum,  who  might  wish 
to  see  their  condition  and  their  apartments,  popular 


INTERVIEWS    OF    FRIENDS.  683 

prejudices  have  often  gone  the  length  of  assuming 
that  our  gentle  and  wise  Superintendents  exercise  the 
functions  of  those  who  have  prisoners  of  State  or 
convicts  under  their  charge,  with  whom  they  can 
positively  prohibit  all  intercourse.  It  is  enough  to 
say  that  no  such  prerogative  is  granted  or  exercised  at 
the  Asylum  to  or  by  those  who  have  the  oversight  of 
it.  Recently,  of  the  whole  number  of  patients  in  the 
Asylum,  —  being  167,  —  the  friends  of  142  of  them 
could  and  did  visit  them  at  their  pleasure.  Of  course, 
the  friends  of  the  chronic  demented  very  rarely  wish 
to  see  them.  Only  25  of  the  whole  number  of  the 
patients  were  pronounced  by  the  Superintendent  as  in 
a  condition  to  render  visits  from  friends,  for  the  time, 
unadvisable.  In  no  single  case,  and  under  no  cir- 
cumstances, is  the  nearest  friend  or  guardian,  having 
personal  rights,  precluded  from  an  interview  with  a 
patient,  or  prevented  from  removing  him  or  her  at 
pleasure.  Of  course  there  are  cases  in  which  in  the 
exercise  of  his  judgment,  and  as  a  prime  condition  of 
his  qualification  for  his  high  trust,  the  Superintendent 
will  strongly  advise,  perhaps  remonstrate,  against 
allowing  an  interview  between  a  patient  and  one  who 
has  a  right  to  ask  for  it.  The  Superintendent  will 
freely,  perhaps  earnestly,  give  reasons  for  objecting 
to  it.  He  will  speak  from  his  intimate  knowledge  of 
each  case,  and  his  experience  of  many  cases.      He 


684  RESTRICTION    UPOISI    CORRESPONDENCE. 

will  say  that  interviews  with  friends,  under  this  or 
like  circumstances,  are  purely  harmful ;  renewing  and 
intensifying  the  force  of  delusions,  reconnecting  the 
chain  of  morbid  associations  which  it  is  his  object 
permanently  to  break,  arousing  discontent,  ensuring 
a  period  of  excitement  with  sleepless  and  wretched 
nights,  and  perhaps  stirring  a  suicidal  impulse.  If 
the  friend,  after  listening  to  this  kind  and  wise  sug- 
gestion, is  not  convinced  by  it  so  as  to  comply  with 
it,  the  way  is  freely  opened  to  an  interview  with  the 
patient,  the  friend  assuming  the  responsibility  for  the 
consequences.  After  like  advice  and  remonstrances 
on  the  part  of  the  Superintendent,  and  similar  per- 
sistency of  friends,  patients  partially  recovered,  or 
with  a  prospect  of  restoration,  may  be  removed, 
though  to  their  sure  injury.  There  are  always  more 
applicants  than  can  be  received ;  and  the  gratification 
of  all  the  officers  of  the  Asylum  is  the  highest  only 
when  a  new  patient  can  be  admitted  to  fill  the  place 
of  one  discharged  perfectly  well. 

As  to  the  restriction  upon  the  correspondence  be- 
tween patients  and  friends  outside,  there  is  misap- 
prehension here,  also,  which  is  made  to  exaggerate 
popular  prejudice.  The  figures  on  this  point  will  be 
most  satisfactory.  On  the  28th  of  May,  1872,  there 
were  in  the  McLean  Asylum  as  patients  77  males  and 
101  females,  in  all  178;  of  these,  53  males  and  60 


CORRESPONDENCE    OF    PATIENTS.  685 

females,  in  all  113,  never  wish  to  write  ;  21  males 
and  34  females,  in  all  55,  write  when  they  wish,  and 
receive  letters,  —  more  than  half  of  these  not  having 
their  correspondence  subject  to  any  prudential  over- 
sight whatever.  Of  those  from  whom  the  means  of 
correspondence  are  withheld,  there  are  but  3  males 
and  7  females,  in  all  10.  The  restriction  in  these 
very  few  cases  is  imposed  for  one  or  both  of  the  two 
sufficient  reasons,  either  that  it  would  harm  the 
patient  for  whom  there  is  hope  of  cure  to  yield  to 
the  excitement  of  putting  delusions  and  fancies  upon 
paper,  or  that  the  morbid  communications  which  they 
might  write  would  be  misleading  and  harrowing  to 
friends.  Reasons  there  are  also,  in  some  of  these 
cases,  for  leading  the  friends  of  patients  to  enjoin 
extreme  caution  on  the  officers  of  the  Asylum  as  to 
the  exchange  of  letters  with  objectionable  corre- 
spondents, while  they  are  also  earnestly  desirous  that 
no  letters  from  the  patients  be  written  to  themselves. 

If,  as  has  been  above  intimated,  there  is  a  limited 
range  for  difference  of  judgment  among  professional 
experts  still  left  open,  as  to  principles  and  methods 
of  general  or  special  application,  there  are  abundant 
and  well-adapted  means  now  in  use,  through  conven- 
tions and  journals,  by  which  the  Superintendents  of 
Asylums  can  instruct  each  other. 

The  preceding  pages,  devoted  to  the  supplemental 


686  INTERIOR    EXPERIENCES. 

history  of  the  Hospital,  have  been  composed  accord- 
ing to  the  terms  of  the  wish  expressed  by  the  Trus- 
tees in  their  vote.  The  interest  of  them,  limited  by 
the  object  had  in  view,  will  of  course  be  very  small, 
and  of  no  account  whatever  to  a  general  reader.  Far 
different  in  tone  and  contents,  in  tenor  and  in  impres- 
siveness,  would  be  a  work  that  might  be  written,  con- 
cerning either  the  Hospital  or  the  Asylum,  which 
should  be  engaged  with  the  aspects  and  experiences 
of  human  life,  the  incidents  of  personal  history,  the 
secrets  and  the  revelations  of  character,  discipline, 
sorrow,  stern  suffering,  and  the  precious  resources 
of  patience,  fortitude,  and  submission,  —  the  inner 
wealth  of  human  spirits,  —  that  have  been  known 
within  those  walls.  It  has  not  been  a  pleasant  task 
to  the  writer  to  recognize  only  as  matters  of  routine 
business  for  committees  and  votes,  the  oversight  of 
interests  which  come  so  tenderly,  often  so  harrow- 
ingly,  within  the  sacred  privacy  of  the  wards  and 
galleries  of  these  refuges  of  human  suffering  and 
woe.  Neither,  on  the  other  hand,  would  it  have 
been  an  engaging  task  for  the  writer  to  prepare,  nor 
would  readers  be  profited  by  the  perusal  of,  pages 
which  should  furnish  details  of  these  inner  expe- 
riences. Only  holy  sympathy  and  a  power  to  min- 
ister to  and  relieve  the  maladies  of  humanity  in  soul 
or  body  —  sympathy   and    power  like   those    of  the 


INTERIOR    EXPERIENCES.  687 

Great  Physician  —  can  wisely  or  healthfully  be 
brought  into  contact  with,  or  even  into  the  contem- 
plation of,  those  varied  human  woes.  As  I  write 
these  pages,  I  have  before  me  on  the  wall  a  most 
instructive  picture,  the  groupings  of  which  are  sug- 
gestive of  the  partition  between  the  different  classes 
of  sufferers  engaging  my  thought  as  I  make  my 
regular  visits,  as  a  Trustee,  to  the  Hospital  or  the 
Asylum.  It  is  a  copy  of  Ary  Scheffer's  picture  of 
"  Christus  Consolator,"  Christ  the  Consoler.  The 
Scripture  sentence  which  it  illustrates  is  this  :  "  He 
hath  sent  me  to  heal  the  broken-hearted,  to  preach 
deliverance  to  the  captives."  The  artist  has  grouped 
into  two  classes  the  forms  of  all  the  varied  sufferers 
by  disease  and  wrong  and  sorrow,  through  all  the 
maladies  of  mind  and  body ;  while  the  Saviour,  the 
central  figure  to  whom  they  all  turn,  ministers  to 
them  all.  The  retinue  which  He  drew  around  him 
—  a  following  such  as  no  other  King  or  Prince  ever 
coveted  or  won  —  is  described  as  composed  of  "  all 
sick  people  that  were  taken  with  divers  diseases  and 
torments,  and  those  which  were  possessed  with  devils, 
and  those  which  were  lunatick."  They  who  can 
help  or  comfort,  with  the  hand  or  the  heart,  any  such 
sufferers,  have  the  right  of  access  to  them.  But  any 
details  or  particular  relations  drawn  out  on  the  printed 
page  would  be  simply  distressing  to  all  to  whom  they 
would  not  be  hardening. 


688  OFFICES    OF    MERCY. 

It  is  enough  for  us  to  have  the  assurance  that,  in 
both  Hospital  and  Asylum,  the  highest  appliances  of 
science  and  the  gentlest  ministrations  of  a  refined 
humanity  are  engaged  for  each  human  malady  as  if  it 
were  a  case  by  itself.  When  we  read  in  our  daily 
papers  of  some  accident  or  shocking  disaster  on  the 
highways,  or  the  wharves,  or  in  a  dwelling,  and  are 
informed  that  the  victim  "  was  taken  to  the  Massa- 
chusetts General  Hospital,"  we  need  not  send  our 
imagination  there  to  fashion  the  scene  that  follows. 
It  is  a  satisfaction  for  us  to  know  that,  by  day  and 
night,  there  are  always  ready  there  the  services  of 
physician  and  surgeon,  watchman,  nurse,  and  attend- 
ant, with  all  appliances  of  science  and  curious  skill 
to  restore  or  relieve.  When  we  are  reminded  of  the 
many  cases  of  complicated  disease,  congenital  mal- 
formations, disabling  or  malignant  in  their  character, 
which,  after  having  baffled  for  a  long  time  the  re- 
sources of  country  practitioners,  are  at  last  brought 
from  far  distances  to  the  Hospital,  that  the  expert, 
whose  skill  is  divided  between  his  brain  and  his 
almost  intelligent  instruments,  may  engage  it  in  their 
behalf,  we  need  intrude  no  farther.  Yet  the  reserve 
which  then  becomes  wise  for  us  cannot  but  enhance 
the  grateful  feeling,  ever  to  be  associated  with  the 
walls  of  that  Hospital  so  long  as  they  shall  stand, 
that  within  them  was  first  tried  and  verified  the  harm- 


PRIVILEGES    AT    THE    HOSPITAL.  689 

lessness  and  the  potency  of  the  ansesthetic  agent  in 
ensuring  the  painlessness  of  the  most  fearful  pro- 
cesses of  the  surgeon's  knife.  The  shrinkings  and 
the  quivers  which  were  almost  equally  distressing  in 
their  stages  of  apprehension  and  reality  have  yielded 
to  perfect  obliviousness  or  to  sweet  dreams  and  vis- 
ions. The  mechanical  devices,  in  bed  and  chair, 
the  regulations  of  diet,  the  skilled  nursings,  the  dis- 
cretion exercised  in  the  employment  of  drugs  and 
medicines,  the  perfection  reached  in  the  construction 
and  use  of  surgical  instruments,  the  exacting  disci- 
pline secured  by  minute  rules  and  by  the  requisitions 
of  a  record,  and  above  all  the  absolute  immunity 
from  all  the  risks  of  quackery  and  irresponsible  prac- 
tice, —  these  are  but  a  few  of  the  more  obvious  privi- 
leges in  which  the  patients  of  the  Hospital  have 
their  equal  and  impartial  shares.  What  those  privi- 
leges are  to  the  poor,  to  those  whose  only  home  is 
the  garret  or  the  tenement  house,  whose  only  attend- 
ants there  would  be  those  as  poor  and  almost  as 
inefficient  as  themselves,  it  needs  no  display  of  con- 
trasts for  making  the  estimate.  But  the  cases  are 
numerous  —  indeed  the  list  of  them  begins  with  the 
opening  of  the  Hospital  and  continues  to  this  day  —  in 
which  the  rich  and  well-befriended  have  been  brought 
from  luxurious  homes,  to  have  their  full  share  in  the 
privileges  of  the  institution, —  its  quiet,  its  internal  dis- 

87 


690  PRIVILEGES    AT    THE    HOSPITAL. 

cipline,  its  appliances  and  resources,  its  ever-present 
ministrations  of  skill  and  experience.  Among  those 
informed  on  the  subject  it  is  very  well  understood 
that,  if  a  stranger  in  the  city  from  any  part  of  this 
country,  or  from  abroad,  however  wealthy,  refined,  or 
delicate,  should  be  disabled  by  accident  or  serious 
disease,  he  would  do  well  to  exchange  his  apartments 
in  one  of  our  best  appointed  hotels  for  a  private  room 
in  the  Hospital.  There  have  been  instances  enough, 
so  satisfactory  too  in  their  results,  in  which  this  ex- 
change has  been  made,  to  warrant  the  above  asser- 
tion, without  a  qualification.  Indeed,  the  records  of 
the  Trustees  and  of  the  Treasurer  bear  witness  to  the 
munificent  gifts  which  have  accrued  to  the  Hospital 
from  the  grateful  returns  of  such  patients. 

Among  the  crude  and  popular,  perhaps  natural, 
expressions  of  distrust  and  opposition  to  the  first 
planning  and  the  supposed  subsequent  administration 
of  the  Hospital,  this  was  prominent,  —  namely,  that 
poor  patients  were  to  be  enticed  within  its  walls  that 
they  might  be  made  the  subjects  of  experiments  in 
surgical  processes  or  in  the  trial  of  drugs,  chemicals, 
and  medicines  ;  so  that  this  gratuitous  practice  might 
fit  a  few  young  doctors  and  surgeons  for  safer  and 
well-remunerated  professional  work  for  the  rich  in 
their  luxurious  chambers.  Now,  it  may  be  most 
emphatically    affirmed,  that  one    of   the    paramount 


SERVICE    TO    SCIENCE.  691 

objects  had  in  view,  as  prompting  the  establishment 
of  the  Hospital,  was  that  by  its  agency  the  poor  and 
unfriended  might  be  secured  from  those  very  outrages, 
—  to  which  they  were  exposed  outside  of  it  to  an  ex- 
tent and  at  a  cost  to  them  far  beyond  what  any  of 
them  realized.  It  needs  only  that  one  should  cast 
his  eyes  over  the  newspapers  which  circulate  most 
among  the  poor,  the  ignorant,  and  unfriended,  to 
learn  from  their  advertisements  what  appliances  are 
offered  them  for  self-treatment,  and  what  sort  of  pro- 
fessional aid  is  commended  to  them.  Indeed,  the 
Hospital,  if  it  had  no  other  claim  for  regard  and  con- 
sideration, might  advance  a  most  substantial  one  on 
the  score  of  its  quiet  and  most  effective  discounte- 
nance of  quackery  and  empiricism,  and  those  enor- 
mous and  villanous  outrages  which  are  practised  by 
charlatans  on  the  ignorant  and  the  credulous. 

Nor  is  there  a  shadow  of  reason  in  the  allegation  that, 
when  it  is  affirmed  that  science  and  humanity  preside 
over  the  administration  of  the  Hospital,  the  service 
of  science  consists  in  putting  disease  and  the  opera- 
tions which  it  requires  into  subserviency  to  a  Medical 
School,  for  the  training  of  classes  of  young  pupils  in 
medicine  and  surgery.  Those  who  preside  over  the 
operating  theatre,  and  make  its  necessary  processes 
the  means  of  education  for  their  successors,  do  not 
need  the  indorsement  of  any  outside  testimony  to  the 


692  BENEVOLENCE    OF    THIS    COMMUNITY. 

spirit  and  method  of  their  exercises.  Delicacy,  ten- 
derness, prudential  reserve,  and  all  the  refinements  of 
professional  propriety  and  courtesy  may  be  taken  for 
granted  there.  Meanwhile,  if  it  were  possible  to 
look  at  surgical  operations  abstractly,  as  performed 
on  insensate  materials,  —  as  indeed  the  anaesthetic 
agent  ensures  that  they  are  substantially,  —  it  would 
be  difficult  to  define  a  more  eifective  condition  for 
their  delicate  and  perfect  performance  than  is  found 
in  the  presence  of  a  group  of  keenly  inquisitive  pu- 
pils. It  may  be  believed  that,  if  a  comparison  were 
instituted  between  the  clinical  and  surgical  practices 
of  the  best  appointed  hospitals  and  those  in  the 
chambers  of  private  homes  for  any  class  of  people, 
the  comparison  would  at  no  point  be  unfavorable  to 
the  former  as  to  all  the  most  desirable  conditions  of 
skill,  tenderness,  consideration,  and  the  prospect  of 
benefit  in  relief  or  cure. 

In  closing  the  work  required  of  him,  the  writer  will 
indulge  himself  in  expressing,  in  brief  and  simple 
terms,  three  most  pleasing  impressions  which  the  study 
of  the  records  in  his  hands  has  wrought  in  his  mind. 
First  comes  that  grateful  sense  of  the  wisely  guided 
and  instructed  spirit  of  sympathetic  benevolence,  con- 
siderate generosity,  and  munificent  liberality  in  our 
immediate  community,  by  which,  from  the  first  pro- 
posal of  its  objects  to  the  present  day,  persons  of  all 


EMINENT    PROFESSIONAL    SERVICES.  693 

classes  among  us  as  regards  means,  position,  and  cul- 
ture, have  founded  and  endowed  this  institution.  Its 
affluence  comes  from  the  transfer  to  its  treasury  of 
the  wealth  of  many  kind  and  Christian  hearts.  Never 
has  an  appeal  been  made  in  vain  in  its  behalf.  The 
footings-up  of  the  specific  contributions  received  have 
always  exceeded  the  amounts  asked  for.  "  Father 
Taylor,"  the  eminent  sailor-preacher,  —  himself  for 
his  own  sake  and  for  his  cause  a  large  sharer  in  the 
benevolence  which  he  extolled,  —  while  once  thrilling 
a  large  audience  on  a  charitable  occasion  with  his 
fervid,  glowing,  and  unartistic  eloquence,  not  only 
"  lost  his  nominative  case,"  but  became  hopelessly 
involved  in  his  figures  of  speech  and  flight  of 
rhetoric.  Knowing  that  he  ought  to  close,  and 
seeing  no  other  way  out  of  his  evident  embarrass- 
ment, he  brought  his  hand  down  with  a  heavy  blow, 
and  abruptly  turning  to  the  chairman,  Justice  Story, 
said,  "  The  truth  is,  Mr.  President,  the  Lord  has  only 
one  Boston,  and  we  live  in  it." 

A  second  impression,  of  an  equally  grateful  char- 
acter, realized  from  the  review  of  our  records,  is  that 
of  the  free,  unpaid  daily  service,  continued  on  for 
long  years,  which  the  institution  has  received  from 
the  most  accomplished,  the  most  eminent,  and  the 
most  honored  and  beloved  professional  men,  physi- 
cians and  surgeons,  in  this  community.    Practitioners, 


694     HARMONY    BETWEEN    TRUSTEES    AND    OFFICERS. 

whose  ability  and  repute  made  their  labors  most  en- 
grossing and  their  time  most  valuable  to  them,  have 
put  the  claims  of  this  institution  foremost  in  their 
regard.  They  gave  to  it  themselves  while  they  lived, 
and  left  to  it  their  blessing,  the  memory  and  influence 
of  their  devotion,  and  their  pecuniary  aid. 

And,  last  of  all,  the  writer  must  add,  that,  as  he  has 
read  the  records  before  him,  with  the  filed  reports  and 
documents  to  which  they  refer,  he  has  been  profoundly 
impressed  by  the  dignity,  the  respectful  consideration, 
and  the  perfect  courtesy  of  feeling,  intercourse,  and 
business  which  have  characterized  the  relations  be- 
tween the  Trustees  and  the  Officers  of  the  Institution. 
Delicate  questions  have  arisen ;  some  matters  of  pre- 
rogative, precedency,  and  authority,  have  required 
attention.  But  there  never  has  been  a  personal 
issue.  Frankness,  kindness,  and  mutual  regard., 
which  are  themselves  forms  and  qualities  of  justice, 
have  uniformly  prevailed  here. 

To  the  residents  in  this  immediate  community,  the 
names  of  those  who  for  so  long  a  series  of  years  have 
successively  served  as  Trustees  of  this  institution  will 
make  it  unnecessary  to  add  any  thing  as  to  their  claims 
to  confidence  and  respect,  for  the  services  they  have 
rendered.  It  will  have  been  noticed  very  rarely  in 
the  preceding  pages  that  the  election  as  a  Trustee 
has  been  followed  by  the  declination  of  one  so  chosen 


SERVICES    OF    THE    TRUSTEES.  695 

to  serve.     Considering  what  sort  of  men  have  been 
elected,  and  from  what  ranges  of  life  they  come,  the 
wonder  is  that  the  Hospital  bears  on  its  records,  often 
for  a  considerable  series  of  years,  the  names  which 
are  found  upon  them.     Occasionally  those  names  are 
of  professional  men  of  the  highest  standing.     For  the 
most  part,  however,  they  are  the  names  of  men  in 
the  full  vigor  of  life,  pursuing  actively  the  higher  and 
most  engrossing  tasks  of   business,   managin*  large 
trusts,  and  guiding  the  enterprise  of  the  community. 
The  regular  meetings  of  the  Trustees  are  held  at  the 
Hospital   on    alternate  weeks.      Quarterly  meetings, 
for  the  examination  of  accounts  and  for  receiving  the 
reports  of  officers,  are  held  at  the  Asylum.     Two  of 
the  Trustees,  each  of  them  changing  his  colleague 
from  month  to  month,  so  that  each  serves  for  two 
successive  months,  visit  the  Asylum  every  Tuesday, 
and  the  Hospital  every  Friday ;  seeing  every  patient 
and  every  apartment,  examining  the  entries   on  the 
records  of  each  admission,  fixing  the  price  of  board 
according  to  circumstances,  disposing  temporarily  of 
any  question  of  interest  that  presents  itself,  and  then 
making  and  signing  their  report  upon  the  ledgers. 
The  Trustees  are  likewise  distributed  into  Standing 
Committees  on  Finance,  on  Accounts,  on  Free  Beds, 
on  the  Book  of  Donations,  on  the  Warren  Fund  and 
Library,  and  on  Repairs.     That  gentlemen,  most  of 


696  SERVICES    OF    THE    TRUSTEES. 

whom  might  plead  the  engrossment  of  their  own 
private  affairs  or  business  agencies,  have  been  found 
from  year  to  year  to  give  their  time  and  the  indorse- 
ment of  their  reputation  to  these  exacting  tasks,  is  to 
be  regarded  simply  as  a  tribute  paid  by  them  to  the 
cause  of  humanity  as  represented  by  the  Hospital. 


697 


CONTINUATION   OF   THE  LIST 


OFFICERS  OF  THE  HOSPITAL. 


PRESIDENTS. 


William  Appleton    .....     from  1844     ....     to  1862. 

Robert  Hooper from  1862     .     .     .     .     to  1869. 

Edward  "Wigglesworth      .     .     .     from  1869     ....     to 


VICE-PRESIDENTS. 

Robert  Hooper from  1850  .     .     .     .  to  1856. 

Nathaniel  I.  Bowditch       .     .     .     from  1856  ....  to  1862. 

Edward  Wigglesworth      .     .     .     from  1862  ....  to  1869. 

Nathaniel  Thayer from  1869  ....  to 


TREASURERS. 

Henry  Andrews from  1835     ....     to  1859. 

J.  Thomas  Stevenson   ....     from  1859     ....     to 


SECRETARIES. 

Marcus  Morton,  jun from  1842     ....  to  1859. 

Thomas  B.  Hall from  1859     .     .     .     .  to  1865. 

William  S.  Dexter for  1865. 

Thomas  B.  Hall from  1866     .     .  to 

88 


698 


OFFICERS    OF    THE    HOSPITAL. 


TRUSTEES. 

Nathaniel  I.  Bowditcli      .     .     .     from  1837     ....     to  1856 

Thomas  Lamb    .     .     . 

from  1839     . 

to  1861 

George  M.  Dexter  .     . 

from  1839     . 

to  1853 

Francis  C.  Lowell  .     . 

from  1839     . 

to  1853 

Henry  B,  Rogers    .     .     . 

from  1839     . 

to 

Edward  Wigglesworth 

from  1844     . 

to  1862 

J.  Thomas  Stevenson  . 

from  1846     . 

to  1859 

Charles  H.  Mills      .     . 

.     from  1848     . 

.     to  1859 

Amos  A.  Lawrence     .     . 

from  1848     . 

to  1854. 

William  S.  Bullard       . 

from  1849     . 

to  1872 

G.  Rowland  Shaw  .     . 

.     from  1850     . 

to  1856 

William  J.  Dale       .     . 

from  1851  to  1862,  and  for  1864 

John  P.  Bigelow      .     . 

from  1852  to  1855,  and  for  1857 

Charles  H.  Warren 

from  1853     ....     to  1857 

Robert  M.  Mason    .     . 

from  1854     . 

.     to  1862 

Henry  M.  Holbrook     . 

from  1855     . 

to  1857 

.Tames  B.  Bradlee   .     . 

from  1856     . 

to  1859 

William  D.  Greenough 

from  1856     . 

to  1866 

.John  Lowell  .... 

from  1857     . 

to  1870 

Abbott  Lawrence    .     . 

from  1858     . 

to  1859 

Nathaniel  H.  Emmons 

from  1859     . 

to  1861 

George  Higginson  .     . 

from  1859     . 

to 

JMarcus  Morton,  jun;    . 

.     from  1859     . 

to  1860 

Martin  Brimmer     .     .     . 

from  1860     .     . 

to  1864 

James  M.  Beebe     .     . 

from  1860     .     . 

to 

J.  Amory  Davis       .     . 

from  1861     .     . 

to  1866 

Samuel  G.  Howe    .     .     . 

from  1861     . 

to 

James  C.  Wild  .     .     . 

from  1862     . 

to  1865 

Harrison  Ritchie     .     .     . 

from  1863 

to  1867 

Henry  A.  Whitney  .     . 

from  1863 

.     to  1868 

Charles  S.  Storrow 

from  1865     . 

to  1870 

Charles  H.  Dalton  .     . 

from  1866     . 

to 

Samuel  Eliot      .     .     . 

from  1866     . 

to 

James  L.  Little  .     .     . 

.     from  1866     . 

to  1871 

OFFICERS    OF    THE    HOSPITAL. 


699 


Ezra  Farnsworth from  1867 

Edmund  Dwiglit from  1868 

George  S.  Hale from  1870 

Samuel  W.  Swett from  1870 

George  E.  Ellis from  1871 

Samuel  D.  Warren       ....  from  187* 

Henry  P.  Kidder from  1872 


to  1872. 

to 

to 

to 

to 

to 

to 


CHAIRMEN  OF  THE  TRUSTEES. 

Nathaniel  I.  Bowditcli      .     .     .     from  1850     ....     to  1856. 
Henry  B.  Rogers from  1856     .     .     .     .     to 


SUPERINTENDENTS   OF   HOSPITAL. 

Richard  Girdler from  1845     .     .     . 

Benjamin  S.  Shaw from  1858     . 

Norton  Folsom  elected  May  3,  1872. 


to  1858. 
to  1872. 


PHYSICIANS   OF  ASYLUM. 


Luther  V.  Bell  from  1836  to  1856,  and  temjiorarily  for  1857. 
Chauncey  Booth  from  1856,  died  January  13,  1858. 
John  E.  Tyler  from  1858  to  1871. 
George  F.  Jelly  elected  October  13,  1871. 


701 


Table  of  Admissions,  Discharrjen,  and  Results,  at  the  M'Lean  Asyhnn, 
from  its  opening,  October  C,  1818,  to  December  SI,  1871,  inclusive. 


Wholp  No. 

Much  Im- 

Remaining 

Averagre 

Years. 

Admitted. 

Discharg'd 

under 

Died. 

proved, 

Recovered. 

at  end  of 

No.  of 

care. 

&c. 

11 

year. 
23 

Patients. 

1818-19 

58 

35 

58 

5 

19 

1820 

44 

40 

67 

1      1 

28 

11 

27 

- 

1821 

47 

46 

74 

3 

33 

10 

28 

_ 

1822 

64 

50 

92 

5 

31 

14 

42 

_ 

1823 

73 

61 

115 

2 

39 

20 

54 

_ 

1824 

53 

56 

107 

5 

28 

23 

51 

_ 

1825 

59 

56 

110 

8 

27 

21 

54 

- 

1826 

47 

46 

101 

5 

21 

20 

55 

- 

1827 

58 

56 

113 

5 

17 

34 

57 

- 

1828 

77 

G5 

134 

5 

37 

23 

69 

_ 

1829 

73 

77 

142 

9 

42 

26 

65 

- 

1830 

82 

78 

147 

10 

34 

34 

69 

- 

1831 

83 

84 

152 

8 

46 

30 

68 

- 

1832 

94 

98 

162 

10 

45 

43 

64 

- 

1833 

103 

100 

167 

8 

50 

42 

67 

- 

1834 

108 

95 

174 

7 

47 

41 

80 

- 

1835 

83 

84 

163 

11 

28 

45 

77 

- 

1836 

106 

112 

183 

10 

38 

64 

71 

- 

1837 

120 

105 

191 

8 

25 

72 

86 

80 

1838 

138 

131 

224 

12 

45 

74 

93 

95 

1839 

132 

117 

225 

10 

38 

69 

108 

112 

1840 

155 

138 

263 

13 

50 

75 

125 

128 

1841 

157 

141 

283 

11 

55 

75 

142 

135 

1842 

129 

138 

271 

15 

43 

80 

133 

143 

1843 

126 

126 

260 

18 

45 

63 

134 

131 

1844 

158 

140 

292 

20 

52 

68 

152 

146 

1845 

119 

120 

271 

13 

33 

74 

151 

149 

1846 

148 

126 

299 

9 

52 

65 

173 

164 

1847 

170 

170 

343 

33 

50 

87 

173 

172 

1848 

143 

155 

316 

23 

50 

82 

155 

171 

1840 

160 

137 

321 

15 

58 

64 

184 

177 

1850 

173 

157 

357 

28 

51 

78 

200 

201 

1851 

164 

173 

364 

29 

69 

75 

191 

195 

1852 

145 

135 

336 

15 

48 

72 

201 

200 

1853 

114 

120 

315 

17 

45 

58 

195 

194 

1854 

120 

120 

315 

16 

45 

59 

195 

195 

1855 

123 

126 

318 

24 

46 

56 

192 

192 

1856 

149 

145 

341 

19 

68 

68 

196 

195 

1857 

141 

159 

337 

28 

60 

71 

178 

191 

1858 

155 

147 

333 

25 

50 

72 

186 

187 

1859 

131 

142 

317 

28 

53 

61 

175 

185 

1860 

121 

109 

296 

24 

46 

39 

187 

185 

1861 

111 

110 

298 

23 

33 

54 

188 

193 

1862 

82 

94 

270 

18 

37 

39 

176 

190 

1863 

94 

69 

270 

13 

20 

36 

201 

191 

1864 

101 

107 

302 

27 

38 

42 

195 

200 

1865 

82 

85 

277 

17 

33 

35 

192 

186 

1866 

103 

98 

295 

29 

23 

46 

197 

197 

1867 

89 

108 

286 

27 

36 

45 

178 

186 

1868 

92 

94 

270 

23 

37 

34 

176 

166 

1869 

108 

100 

284 

18 

31 

51 

184 

187 

1870 

79 

85 

263 

12 

40 

33 

178 

187 

1871 

75 

81 

253 

13 

790 

22 

21 

172 

178 

- 

5719 

5547 

- 

2127 

2605 

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Table  of  the  Income  and  Expenses  of  the  Hospital 


Income. 


Free-bed 

_ 

Year. 

Board  of  Patients  at 

Funds  and 

Funds  for  other  Char- 

Total Income  of 

Subscriptions. 

ities  at 

Hospital. 

Asylum. 

Hospital. 

Hospital. 

Asylum. 

Hospital. 

Asylum. 

18G2 

§5,853.89 

$65,182.65 

817,175.62 

§414.15 

$4,106.69 

823,443.66 

$69,289.34 

lH(i:j 

(5.312.25 

67,130.07 

17,311.70 

695.30 

4,514.46 

24,319.25 

71,644.53 

ISlJi 

7,714.54 

96,960.53 

18,832.22 

648.21 

4,118.29 

27,194.97 

101,078.82 

1SC,;3 

14,8-17.27 

111,377.98 

32,329.06 

717.35 

4,883.90 

47,893.("S 

116,261.88 

lMi(3 

14,977.44 

125,457.64 

23,843.74 

1,082.64 

7,035.18 

39,903.82 

132,492.82 

lb07 

1(3,717.68 

134,416.01 

27,480.37 

1,146.20 

5,579.02 

45,344.25 

139,995.03 

1868 

14,671.45 

127,893.29 

27,913.05 

1,320.00 

5,144.00 

43,904.-50 

133,037.29 

1869 

13,426.70 

140,292.63 

30,420.08 

1,165.00 

4,992.07 

45,011.78 

145,284.70 

1870 

12,003.83 

141,793.86 

31,944.08 

807.00 

4,659.27 

44,754.91 

146,453.13 

1871 

11,078.69 

136,194.35 

40,311.06 

1,042.32 

5,031.17 

52,432.07 

141,225.52 

10  yrs. 

3117,603.74 

$1,146,^99.01 

$267,560.98 

$9,038.17 

$50,064.05 

$394,202.89 

$1,196,768.06 

Excess  of  ExrENSKS 


1 

Excess  of 

Average  cost  per  week 

Cost  of  Pay 

Free  Patients  over 

Cost  of  all 

Expenses  over 

Patients  over 

Funds  .and 

Patients  over 

Total  Receipts. 

Board. 

Subscriptious. 
Hospital. 

Board. 

Hospital. 

Hospital. 

Asylum. 

Hospitiil. 

Ilcspit.il. 

1862 

318,671.15 

6.04 

7.27 

$774.76 

$17,896.39 

$36,260.92 

1863 

23,102.46 

6.66 

6.98 

-160.98* 

23,263.44 

41,108.46 

1864 

32,964.58 

8.38 

9.76 

2,510.27 

30,454.31 

52,445.01 

1865 

10,075.12 

9.86 

12.49 

8,272.35 

1,802.77 

43,121.53 

1866 

28,882.98 

13.88 

12.30 

15,108.64 

13,694.38 

53,809.36 

1867 

15,664.97 

11.28 

13  84 

9,368.99 

6,277.65 

44,291.54 

1868 

23,659.97 

12.74 

16.51 

8,992.05 

14,568.66 

52,893.02 

1869 

17,226.82 

10.14 

14.21 

6,702.16 

10,316.36 

48,812.90 

1870 

18,059.91 

10.05 

13.83 

3,840.52 

14,143.34 

50,810.99 

1871 

11,094.30 

9.96 

15.80 

4,187.82 

6,815.06 

52,447.68 

10  yrs. 

$199,402.26 

$59,596.58 

$139,232.36 

$476,001.41 

*  Excess  tlii.s  year  of  Ucceipt.s  for  Board  over  cost  of  Paying  Patients 


705 


and  Asylum,  for  ten  years,  —  1862  to  1871. 


Ordinary  Expenses. 


Year. 

Cost  of  Paying 
Patients. 

Cost  of  Free 
Patients. 

Other  Charities. 

Total  Expenses  of 

Hospital. 

Hospital. 

Hospital. 

Hospital. 

Asylum. 

1862 

86,628.65 

835,072.01 

$414.15 

842,114.81 

§71,823.46 

1863 

6,151.27 

40,575.14 

695.30 

47,421.71 

69,300.63 

1864 

10,224.81 

49,286.53 

648.21 

60,159.55 

101,484.38 

1865 

23,119.62 

34,131.83 

717.35 

57,968.80 

120,885.84 

1866 

30,086.08 

37,538.12 

1,162.60 

68,786.80 

126,015.83 

1867 

26,086.67 

33,758.02 

1,164.53 

61,009.22 

133,844.14 

1868 

28,663.50 

42,481.71 

1,419.26 

67,564.47 

142,535.36 

1869 

20,128.86 

40,736.44 

1,373.30 

62,238.60 

138,132.02 

1870 

15,844.35 

46,087.42 

883.05 

62,814.82 

134,339.6a 

1871 

15,266.51 

47,126.12 

1,188.74 

63,526.37 

146,191.23 

10  yrs. 

8177,200.32 

§406,798.34 

$9,611.49 

§598,605.15 

§1,184,552.52 

OVER  Board,  etc. 


Outlay  for  Lands  and  Buildings. 


Charges  opon  the  General  Funds. 


Hospital. 

Asylum. 

Hospital . 

Asylum . 

823,451.42 

$18,869.30 

s 

5 

27,882.72 

13,991.34 

s 

s 

37,744.85 

16,740.79 

For 

Sg 

For 

^  5^ 

14,855.38 

20,959.20 

Nine  Years. 

a>9 

Nine  Years. 

'"  U3 

33,663.25 

9,858.25 

843,022.39 

^ti 

8147,017,13 

aio 

20,445.23 

10,184.34 

it  2= 

28,440.24 

25,833.31 

^^ 

t^ 

22,007.08 

9,182.56 

> 

OJ 

22,840.18 

4,221.73 

28,740.85 

<^ 

< 

39,885.15 

4,965.71 

871,763.24 

8147,017.13 

S271,165.50 

8134,806.59 

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710 


SUBSCRIPTIONS,    DONATIONS,    AND   BEQUESTS     TO    THE 
MASSACHUSETTS    GENERAL   HOSPITAL. 


It  was  the  wish  and  purpose  of  the  writer  of  these 
supplementary  pages  of  the  Hospital  History  to  close 
them  with  a  statement,  as  complete  as  possible,  of  all 
the  gifts  and  bequests  which  have  increased  its  funds 
subsequently  to  the  date  at  which  the  similar  state- 
ment by  Mr.  Bowditch  terminates.  Had  the  writer 
been  compelled  to  prepare  such  a  financial  report,  it 
would  have  required  of  him  a  very  laborious  study 
of  the  account-books  of  the  Hospital,  which  would 
probably  have  caused  him,  as  one  not  an  expert,  all 
the  more  perplexity  because  of  the  thoroughness  of 
the  system  and  the  minuteness  of  the  details  by  which 
they  are  kept. 

He  desires,  therefore,  to  express  his  great  obli- 
gations to  the  kindness  of  the  Treasurer,  Mr.  Steven- 
son, who  has  so  faithfully  done  this  exacting  Avork  for 
him.  And  even  to  the  Treasurer  himself,  who  has 
instituted  and  carried  out  the  method  by  which  the 
books  in  his  charge  are  kept,  this  was  a  task  by  no 
means  light.     TJie  funds  of  the  Institution  are  dis- 


SUBSCRIPTIONS,    DONATIONS,    BEQUESTS,    ETC.       711 

posed  under  the  diiFerent  specifications  indicating  the 
uses  to  which  they  have  been  appropriated  by  the 
donors. 

The  whole  sum  of  the  donations  made  to  the  Hos- 
pital from  the  date  of  its  foundation  makes  in  its 
aggregate  a  most  striking  exhibition  of  the  benevolent 
feelings  which  have  sway  in  this  community.  Is 
there  any  other  benevolent  institution  in  this  city, 
State,  or  country,  whose  treasury  has  been  more 
enriched  1 


712 


SUBSCRIPTIONS   IN    1856   FOR   A   BRICK   FENCE  AT 
THE    HOSPITAL. 


Appleton,  Nathan $500.00 

Appleton,  William 500.00 

Bradlee,  Josiah 500.00 

Brooks,  P.  C 250.00 

dishing,  John  P 250.00 

Phillips,  Jonathan 500.00 

Sears,  David 500.00 

Sturgis,  William 250.00 

$3,250.00 


713 


SUBSCRIPTIONS   IN  1863,    FOR   NEW  COTTAGE 
AT   ASYLUM   FOR   MALES. 


Amory,  William 

Bacou,  Francis oOO 

Bacou,  William  B 250 

Bates,  Benjamin  E 1000 

Ballard,  John 300 

Beebe,  James  M 2000 

Bowditch,  Mrs.  Nath.  1 5000 

Bradlee,  J.  Bowdoiu 500 

Brewer,  Gardn-r 2000 

Brimmer,  Martin 1000 

Brooks,  Peter  C 1000 

Bollard,  William  S 2000 

Davis,  J.  Amory 500 

Edgerton,  J 1000 

p:dmands,  J.  Wiley 500 

Fay,  Joseph  S 500 

Gray,  John  C 1000 

Grew,  Mrs.  Henry 300 

Higginson,  George 500 

Hooper,  Robert 250 

Howe,  George 1000 

Howe,  Jabez  C 1000 

Hubbell,  Peter 500 

Himuewell,  H.  H 1000 

Jones,  Miss  Anna  P 400 

Lawrence,  James 1000 

Lawrence,  Abbott 1000 

Lyman,  Charles 300 

90 


714  SUBSCRIPTIONS    FOR   NEW    COTTAGE. 

Lyman,  George  W $500 

Mason,  Robert  M 500 

Oxnard,  Henry  P.,  Ex'rs  of 500 

Paige,  J.  W 500 

Reed,  Benjamin  T 250 

Richardson,  George  C 1000 

Rogers,  Henry  B 1000 

Sears,  David 1000 

Shaw,  G.  Howland 1000 

Skinner,  Francis 1000 

Sturgis,  Henry  P 500 

Sturgis,  William 1000 

Thayer,  Nathaniel 3000 

Wales,  George  W 500 

Wales,  Miss  Mary  Ann 500 

Weld,  William  F 1000 

White,  B.  C 300 

Whitney,  Joseph 500 

Wigglesworth,  Misses 1000 

Wiggles  worth,  Edward 500 

Wigglesworth,  Thomas 300 

Williams,  Moses 1000 

Wolcott,  J.  Huntington 300 

$44,450 


715 


SUBSCRIPTIONS  IN    1866,   TO   PAY   OFF    DEBT  AND 
IN  AID   OF   FUNDS. 

%    • 

In  1866,  at  the  suggestion  of  Nathaniel  Thayer,  Esq.,  subscriptions  were 

solicited  to  pay  off  the  debt  and  in  aid  of  the  funds  of  the  Hospital.  Mr. 
Thayer  proposed  to  contribute  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  to  those  pur- 
poses if  tlie  sum  could  be  made  up  to  one  hundred  thousand  dollars. 

The  appeal  tlien  made  by  a  committee  of  the  Trustees  was  promptly 
responded  to,  and  the  following  is  a  list  of  subscribers  for  one  hundred 
thousand  and  eight  hundred  dollars. 


Andrews,  William  T $500 

Amory,  William 250 

Appleton,  Charles  H 500 

AppletOD,  Nathan,  jun 250 

Appleton,  Thomas  G 1000 

Appleton,  William,  jun 500 

Appleton,  William  S ;     .     .     .  500 

Anonymous,  by  W.  S.  B 500 

Bacon,  Francis 500 

Beebe,  James  M 5000 

Blake,  George  B 100 

Borland,  John 300 

Boston  Stock  Exchange  Board 1000 

Bowditch,  Mrs.  N.  I.    .     . 5000 

Bradlee,  F.  H.  and  J.  B.    .     . 500 

Brimmer,  Martin 1000 

Brooks,  Edward 500 

Brooks,  Peter  C 1000 

Brooks,  Peter  Cjuu 1000 

Brooks,  Shepherd 1000 

Billiard,  William  S 5000 

Codman,  Edward  A 500 

Curtis,  Greely  S 500 

Curtis,  Caleb  A 100 

Cushing,  Thomas  F 500 

Cushing,  John  G 500 


'♦ 


716  SUBSCRIPTIONS    TO    PAY    OFF    DEBT. 

Gushing,  Robert  M 

Daniels,  Otis 500 

Dexter,  F,  Gordon 500 

Damorth,  Isaac  AVarreu 500 

Fearing,  Albert 500 

Flagg,  Augustus 100 

Gardner,  George .'500 

Gardner,  Henry  J 500 

Gardner,  John  L 5000 

Gardiner,  William  li 250 

Glover,  Joseph  B 300 

Goodwin,  the  Misses  Eliza  and  Lucy 500 

Grew,  Mrs.  Henry 500 

Higgin.sou,  George 250 

Hall,  Andrew  T 100 

Heard,  Augustine 250 

lleiueuway,  Mrs.  Augustus 1000 

Hooper,  Robert 200 

Hovey,  C.  F.  &  Co 1000 

Howe,  George 1000 

Howe,  Jabez  C 2000 

Howe,  Thomas 250 

Huunewell,  Horatio  H .  2000 

lasigi,  Goddard,  &  Co 500 

Inches,  Herman  B , 250 

Lawrence,  Abbott 500 

Lawrence,  Amos  A 500 

Lawrence  James 1000 

Little,  James  L 1000 

Lodge,  Mrs.  John  E 300 

Lowell,  Francis  C 250 

Lowell,  Jolm  Amory loOO 

Lyman,  George  AV 1000 

Lyman,  Theodore 200 

Mason,  Robert  M 1000 

Mason,  William  P 500 

Matchett,  Thcuilore 200 


SUBSCRIPTIONS  TO  PAY  OFF  DEBT.  717 

Matthews,  Nathau S200 

McGregor,  James 250 

Minot,  Charles  H 100 

Minot,  George  R 200 

Mudge,  Enoch  R 1000 

Merriam,  Charles 250 

Parker,  E.  Francis 100 

Parker,  John  Brooks 500 

Payson,  Samuel  R 1000 

Perkins,  William 500 

Pierce,  Andrew  J 100 

Pratt,  Miss  Sarah  P .' 1000 

Pratt,  Miss  Mary 1000 

Richardson,  Jeffrey lOOO 

Rogers,  Henry  B 1000 

Shattuck,  George  C 500 

Skinner,  Francis,  &  Co 2000 

Sturgib,  Henry  P 500 

Swett,  Samuel  W 250 

Thayer,  Nathaniel 25000 

Thomas,  William 100 

Tliomas,  Mrs.  William 100 

Wads  worth,  Mrs.  William  W 500 

Wales,  Miss  M.  A 300 

Weld,  William  G 250 

Welles,  George  D 100 

Welles,  Miss  Susan  J 500 

Welles,  Miss  Jane 500 

White,  Benjamin  C 200 

Wliitney,  Joseph 500 

Wiggleswortli,  Miss  Anne 1000 

Wigglesworth,  Miss  Mary 1000 

Wigglesworth,  Edward 1000 

Wigglesworth,  Thomas  . lOOD 

Williams,  Moses 3()0() 

Winthrop,  Robert  C 100 


$100,800 


718 


FREE-BED     SU  B  S  C  RIPT  I  ON.S. 


Before  1851.      1851-1872. 

Adams,  Horatio $183 

Appleton,  Nathan 200 

Appleton,  William 800 

Appleton,  Samuel    .     .     > 100 

Appleton,  William,  jun §^1100 

Appleton,  Charles  H GOO 

Appleton,  William  S 200 

Amory,  AVilliam 100  700 

Araory,  Ciiarles 200  200 

Amory,  James  S 400 

Austin,  Edward 100 

Baxter,  Daniel 13 

Brooks,  Peter  C.     Life 910 

Brooks,  P.  C,  jun 1700 

Brooks,  P.  C,  3d 200 

Brooks,  Mrs.  Gorham 100 

Brooks,  Shepherd 200 

Belknap,  Jeremiah.     Life 654 

Bradlee,  Thomas  D 100 

Bradlee,  Josiah 800  1000 

Bradlee,  F.  H 300 

Bradlee,  J.  Bovvdoin.     Life 1000 

Bowditch,  Nathaniel  1 1000  1200 

Bowditch,  Henry  1 100 

Bowditch,  Mrs.  N.  1 1100 

Bowditch,  J.  IngersoU 200 

Bumstead,  John 100 

Bryant,  John 100  200 


FREE-BED    SUBSCRIPTIONS.  719 

Before  1851.       1851-1872. 

Bryant,  Miss  Mary  C $200 

Bullard,  William  S $100         1034 

Brimmer,  Martin 300 

Brimmer,  Martin,  jun 900 

Babcock,  Mrs.  Mary 100 

Brewer,  Gardner 1333.33 

Bradford,  M.  L 100 

Burnham,  John  A 300 

Boston  Gas  L.  Co.      .     . 200 

Baker,  Richard,  jun 200 

Bigelow,  George  Tyler 200 

Bigelow,  Erastus  B 100 

Cabot,  George 40 

Cabot,  Mrs.  Samuel 400 

Cabot,  Frederick 300 

Coolidge,  Joseph 500 

Coolidge,  T.  Jefferson 200 

Gushing,  John  P 2900 

Gushing,  .John  G 200 

Codman,  Henry 400 

Codman,  Edward 100 

Gary,  Thomas  G 100 

Cutler,  Pliny 100 

Cutler,  William  C 200 

Curtis,  D.  Sargent 100 

Curtis,  Greely  S 200 

Curtis,  Benjamin  R 200 

Chase,  Mrs.  Theodore 200 

Dwight,  Edmund 1100 

Dixwell,  John  James 100 

Dowley,  Levi  A 100 

Davis,  James 700 

Davis,  J.  Amory 300 

Davis,  Miss  Annie  W 200 

Dalton,  Charles  H 100 


720  FREE-BED    SUBSCRIPTIONS. 

Before  1851.       1851-1872. 

Dale,  Theron  J $100 

Dexter,  F.  Gordon 200 

Ellis,  Jabez $5 

Everett,  Otis 50 

Eliot,  Samuel  A 600 

Eliot,  Catherine 100 

Eastburn,  John  H 800 

Edmands,  J.  Wiley 600 

Emmons,  Nathaniel  H 200 

Endicott,  William,  jun 200 

Friend,  Anonymou.s 10         300 

Fay,  Winsor 5 

Fay,  Mrs.  S.  S 100 

Francis,  Ebenezer 700 

Fales,  Samuel 100 

Ferriera,  L.  C 100 

Fearing,  Mrs.  Albert 200 

Farnsworth,  Ezra 200 

Freeland,  Charles  W 200 

Gassett,  Henry 50 

Guild,  Charles 5 

Gray,  John  C 500       1400 

Gray,  Francis  C 600 

Gray,  William 600 

Glover,  Joseph  B 800 

Greene,  Gardiner 500 

Gi-eene,  J.  S.  Copley 600 

Grew,  Mrs.  Henry 700 

Goodwin,  Miss  Eliza 600 

Goodwin,  Miss  Eliza,  jun 200 

Goodwin,  Miss  Lucy 200 

Goodwin,  Ozias 200 

Gardner,  John  L 1100 

Gardner,  J.  P.,  G.  A.,  and  J.  L.,  jun.     .     .     .  1100 

Gardner,  George  A 600 


FREE-BED    SUBSCRIPTIONS.  721 

'  Before  1851.      1851-1872. 

Gardner,  John    . $100 

Gardiner,  William  H 200 

Greenleaf,  R.  C 200 

Humane  Society  of  Mass.    .     .   • $9700       4400 

Head,  Joseph  and  Joseph,  jun 1200 

Head,  Joseph 200 

Howard  Benevolent  Society 100 

Hallett,  George.     Life, 600 

Hallett,  Mrs.  E.     Life 608 

Hallett,  George  W 100 

Hallett,  Henry  S 100 

Howe,  George 200       1300 

Hubbard,  Samuel 100 

Hemenway,  Augustus 900 

Heraenway,  Mrs,  Augustus .  400 

Hooper,  Mrs.  Eunice 300 

Hooper,  Robert  William .   800 

Hooper,  Misses  Eunice  and  Mary  1 200 

Higginson,  George 800 

Hovey,  George  0 200 

Ives,  Robert  H 100 

Jackson,  Patrick  T 1460 

Jackson,  Charles 1800 

Jeffries,  John 800         800 

Joy,  Miss  Elizabeth 166.67 

Joy,  Miss  Hannah 900 

Jackson,  James 40 

Johnson,  Samuel,  jun 200 

Kidder,  Henry  P 300 

Lambert,  William 400 

Lowell,  John,  jun 50 

Lowell,  Francis  C 500 

Lowell,  J.  Amury 500         500 

Lawrence,  Abbott 300 

Lawrence,  Amos 800 

91 


722 


FREE-BED    SUBSCRIPTIONS. 


Before  1851. 

Lawrence,  William $100 

Lawrence,  William  R 

Lyman,  Theodore 900 

Lyman,  Theodore,  jun 

Loring,  Miss  Abby  M 400 

Loring,  Caleb  William 

Lawrence,  James 

Lee,  Mrs.  Hannah  F.     Life 

Lee,  William  P 

Lee,  Francis  L 

Lodge,  John  E 

Lodge,  Mrs.  John  E 

Little,  James  L 

Longstreth,  M 

Munson,  Israel 1200 

Mass.  Charitable  Fire  Society 2025 

Mills,  Charles  H 

Mixter,  Charles      . ,     . 

Minot,  William 

Minot,  George  R 

Mechanics  M.  F.  Ins,  Co 

Matthews,  Nathan 

Mason,  Robert  M 

Mackay,  Robert  C 

Monroe,  William 

McGregor,  James 

May,  J\Iiss  Josephine 

May,  Miss  Ernestine 

Oliver,  Miss  Betsey 

Oxnard,  Henry .     . 100 

Perkins,  Thomas  H 820 

Perkins,  James 200 

Perkins,  William 

Pratt,  William 400 

Pratt,  Miss  P]lizabeth 200 


1851-1872. 

$200 

1900 
1100 

100 

100 
1000 

100 

100 

100 

200 

500 

100 

3900 

100 
1600 

200 

100 

200 

200 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

GOO 


300 


000 


FREE-BED    SUBSCRIPTIONS. 


723 


Before  1851.       1851-1872. 

Pratt,  Miss  Sarah  P $300     $2100 

Parker,  John 1500 

Parker,  Daniel  P 100 

Phillips,  William 300 

Phillips,  Jonathan 1200       1000 

Parsons,  William 100 

Prescott,  William 100 

Parker,  John  Brooks .  237.50 

Parker,  James 1200 

Parker,  Harvey  D.,  &  Co 100 

Page,  Edward 200 

Pickman,  William  D 900 

Peabody,  Francis  H 300 

Payson,  Samuel  R 200 

Parkman,  George  F 200 

Richards,  Paul 5 

Robbins,  Edward  H.,jun 270 

Reed,  Mrs.  William 700         600 

Rogers,  Henry  B 500       1900 

Railroad  Co.,  Boston  and  Lowell 150       2000 

„     Boston  and  Maine 100       2400 

„          „     Boston  and  Providence     .     .     .  150       1832.50 

,,     Eastern 500 

,,          „     Metropolitan  H 500 

„     Union  H 1000 

„           „     Boston  and  Lynn  H 100 

„     Old  Colony 100 

„          „     Boston  and  Worcester  ....  600 

Robesoq,  William  R 200 

Redman,  John 300 

Raymond,  Edward  A 100 

Read,  James 100 

Saflford,  Daniel 20 

Shaw,  Lemuel 20 

Shaw,  Robert  G 1000         200 


724  FREE-BED    SUBSCRIPTIONS. 

Before  1851.  1851-1872. 

Shaw,  G.  Howland $500 

Shattuck,  George  C $100 

Sears,  David 200 

Sturgis,  William 1300         200 

Salisbury,  Mrs.  Elizabeth 1600         200 

Salisbury,  Stephen 2000 

Stone,  William  W 100 

Stanton,  Francis 100 

Sargent,  Ignatius 100 

Sargent,  Horace  Binney 100 

Sargent,  Turner 100 

Skinner,  P^ancis 100 

Schlesinger,  Sebastian  B 200 

Snelling,  Samuel  G 200 

Sawyer,  Joseph .  100 

Saltonstall,  Henry 200 

Thompson,  John 5 

Tappan,  John .  100 

Thorndike,  Israel 100 

Ticknor,  George 500 

Tuckerman,  Edward oOO 

Thayer,  Nathaniel 6100 

Thayer,  John  E 300 

Thayer,  E.  Francis 100 

Tucker,  William  W 200 

Upham,  Henry 100 

Williams,  John  D 2300 

Williams,  Moses 400       2200 

Williams,  Mrs.  Elijah 200 

Wales,  Thomas  B.    Life 825         100 

Waldo,  E.  S.  and  K 2300         100 

Waldo,  Daniel .'  100 

Wiggles  worth,  Edward 2100 

Wigglesworth,  Miss  Ann 2400 

Wiggles  worth.  Miss  Mary 1600 


FREE-BED    SUBSCRIPTIONS.  725 

Before  1851.      1851-1872. 


Wyman,  Rufus 

Whitney,  Joseph 100 

Wolcott,  J.  Huntington 200 

Webster  and  Co 100 

Wharton,  William  C 100 

Welles,  Miss  Jane 250 

Welles,  Miss  Susan  J 250 

Warren,  Samnel  D 200 

Young,  Charles  L 200 


$59969.17    $94399.83 


From  1822  to  Dec.  31,  1850      .     .     .  $59969.17 
From  1851  to  June  1,  1872  ....     94399.83 


Total  subscriptions  from  the  foundation 
of  the  Hospital  to  June  1,  1872      .     .     .     $154369.00 


726 


DONATIONS     AND     BEQUESTS. 


Prior  to  1851.        Since  1851. 

Appleton,  Samuel.  Bequest.  Income  for  pa- 
tients        $10,020.00 

Appleton,  William.    Donation.     $20,000  for 

buildings.    $20,000  inc.  for  patients      .       $10,000.00         30,000.00 
^Austin,  Mrs.  Agnes.    Bequest.    Inc.  of  $5000, 

patients,  Asy. ;  $7,500  unrestricted     .     .  12,500.00 

Amateur  Dramatic  Association.     Donation      .  450.00 

Bowditch,  William  I.  Donation,  bill  for  pro- 
fessional sei'vice 274.25 

Bowditch,  Nathaniel  I.  Bequest.  $5000  for 
Wooden  Leg  Fund,  $2000  for  republica- 
tion of  History 7,000.00 

Belknap,  Jeremiah.    Bequest.    Income  for  free 

beds 10,000.00 

Belknap,  Miss  Mary.     Bequest 89,882.60 

Brimmer,  Miss  Mary  Ann.     Bequest.     Income 

for  free  beds 5000.00 

Brown,  John.     Donation 100.00 

Bromfield,  John.  Bequest.  Income  of  $20,000, 
patients  at  Asylum ;  income  of  $20,000, 
free  beds 40,000.00 

Bullard,  William  S.    Donation  of  land.  Asylum  800.00 

Commonwealth  of  Mass.  Province  House  ;  ham- 
mering stone 75,070.27 

Crocker,  Allan.     Donation 100.00 

Curtis,  Ambrose  S.     Bequest,  settled  for      .     .         2,500.00 

Clougb,  Sarah.     Bequest 601.10 

Bradlee,  J.  Bowdoin.     Donation  for  purchase 

of  books 500.00 

Dowse,  Thomas.      Bequest.     Income  for  free 

beds 5,000.00 

Davis,  Miss  Elinor.    Bequest.    Income  for  free 

beds 900,00 


DONATIONS    AND    BEQUESTS. 


727 


Bigelovv,  Henry  J.  Donation  in  addition  to  sur- 
gical instruments  valued  at  $3,250 

Eliot,  Samuel.     Donation  for  Asylum 

Everett,  Moses.     Donation 

Everett,  Miss  E.  G.     Sundry  donations    .     . 

Friend  desiring  to  be  unknown.     Bequest 

Greene,  Benjamin    D.     Bi^'quest.     Income  for 
free  beds 

Gray,  John  C.    Donation.    Income  for  free  beds 

Gardner,  John  L.    Donation.     Income  for  free 
beds 

Hill,  George.     Bequest 

Hill,  Elizabeth.     Bequest , 

Harris,  Charles.     Bequest.    Income  $1,000  for 
free  beds,  $1,000  unrestricted  .     .     .     .     , 

Homer,  Sidney.     Bequest 

IngersoU,  James.     Bequest 

Joy,  Miss  Nabby.    To  establish  Joy  Fund,  &c. 

Kittredge,  Rufus.     Bequest 

Lee,  Joseph.     Bequest  for  use  of  Asylum 

Lucas,  John.     Donation 

Lee,  Mrs.  Hannah  F.     Donation 

Lassell,  f^llison.     Bec][uest 

Loring,  Mrs.  Abigail.    $5,000  for  Loring  Fund, 
balance  unrestricted 

McLean,  John.     Bequest 

Moseley,  Jonathan 

Munson,  Israel.     Bequest 

Minot,  William.     Donation 

Mitchell,  F.  N.     Bequest 

Mason,  William  P.     Bequest.    Income  for  free 
beds 

McGregor,  James.    Donation.   Income  for  free 
beds 

Nichols,  Benjamin   R.     Bequest.     Income  for 
free  beds 

Oliver,  Thomas.     Bequest 

Oliver,  William.     Bequest 

Phillips,  William.     Donation  for  free  beds  .     . 

PIckman,  William.     Bequest 

Pratt,    Miss   Elizabeth.      Bequest.       One-half 
Asylum,  one-half  Hospital 

Pratt,   Miss  Sarah.     Bequest.     One-half  Asy- 
lum, one-half  Hospital 


Prior  to  1851. 


10,000.00 
116.00 
150.00 


20,000.00 
900.00 


119,858.20 

753,40 

20,000.00 


0,000.00 
22,438.70 

5,000.00 


Since  1851. 
1,750.00 


325.00 
1,900.00 

5,000.00 
1,000.00 

20,000.00 

1,000.00 

237.50 

2,000.00 
1,000.00 
2,000.00 
20,000  00 
3,857.22 


1,000.00 

0,888.00 

43,901.67 


100.00 
67.50 

9,400.00 

10,000.00 

57,760.04 

4,000.00 

20,000.00 

18,800.00 


728  DONATIONS    AND    BEQUESTS. 

Prior  to  1851.        Since  1851. 
Phillips,  Jonathan.     Bequest.    Income  for  free 

beds 10,000.00 

Poland,  J.     Donation 15.00 

Percival,  John.  Bequest.    Income  for  free  beds  950.00 

Pickens,  John.  Bequest.  Income  for  free  beds  1,676,75 

Russell,  Polly.     Donation 400.00 

Russell,  William.     Donation 100.00 

Richardson,  Susan.     Donation  for  free  beds      .  250.00 

Raymond,  Edward  A.     Bequest.     Income  for 

free  beds 2,820.t)0 

Reed,  William.     Bequest  to  accrue  to  $5000, 

then  income  to  free  beds 2,000.00 

Redman,  John.    Bequest.    Income  to  free  beds  137,614.50 

Reed,  Benjamin  T.    Donations.    Income  to  free 

beds 1,000.00 

Read,  James.     Bequest.     Income,   one-half,  to 

patients  asylum,  one-half  to  free  beds   .     .  2,000.00 

Savage,  James.     Donation 100.00 

Salisbury,  Mrs.  Elizabeth.     Donation     .     .     .  4,000.00 

Salisbuiy,  Stephen.     Donation 5,000.00 

Sawyer,  Matthias  P.  Bequest.  Income  of  $7,000 

to  free  beds,  balance  unrestricted    .     .     .  99,003.63 

Sever,  Miss.     Bequest.     Income  to  free  beds  500.00 

Spaulding,  Rev.  Mr.     Donation 500.00 

St.  Stephen's  Chapel.     For  two   free  beds  for 

ten  years 2,000.00 

Shaw,  Miss  M.  Louisa.    Donation  for  free  beds  500.00 

Shaw,  Mrs.  Q.  A.,  and  other  ladies.  Donation. 

Income  for  amusements  for  asylum  .      .     .  5,000.00 

Thomas,  Isaiah.     Bequest 5,256.83       1,113.50 

Tucker,  Beza.     House  in  Boylston  Place     .     .  5,350.00 

Tucker,  Margaret.     For  free  beds      ....  2,929.97 

Touro,  Abraham.     Bequest 10,000.00 

Touro,  Judah.     Bequest 10,000.00 

Todd,  Henry.     Bequest.     Income  to  free  beds  5,000.00 

Treadwell,  J.  G.     Bequest.    Income  of  $5,000 

to  care  of  library,  and  balance  to  free  beds 

together  with  library 43,703.91 

Thompson,  Miss  S.   B.     Bequest.     Income   to 

free  beds 492.40 

Townsend,  Miss    Mary  P.     Bequest.     Income 

for  free  beds 7,500,00 

Weblier,  Seth.     Donation 1,000.00 

Westerfiehl,  Peter.     For  poor  patients  .     .     .  165.67 


DONATIONS    AND    BEQUESTS.  7 '2 9 

Prior  to  1851.        Since  1851. 
Warren,  John  C.     Donation.     Income  to  pur- 
chase books     1,000.00 

Waldo,  Daniel.     Bequest 40,000.00 

Williams,  John  D.     Bequest.     Income  to  free 

beds 13,000.00 

Wilder,  Charles  W.     Bequest 20,000.00 

Whitney,  Edward.     Donation 5,000.00 

Wigglesworth,  Edward.     Donation    ....  1,000.00 

Warren,  J.  Mason.     $2,000  for  new  operating- 
room,  $1,880  for  Warren  Prizes  .     ...  *  3,880.00 
^Vyman,  Morrill.     Donation 200.00 

$483,922.89  $706,001.47 


Amount  from  1811  to  Dec.  31,  1850      .     .     .     $483,922.86 
Amount  from  Jan.  1851,  to  June  1,  1872    .     .      706,001.47 


Total  .     .     .       $1,189,924.33 

N.B.  Upon  the  final  settlement  of  the  estate  of  the  late  John  Red- 
man, the  corporation  will  come  into  possession  of  real  estate  in  the  City 
of  Boston,  the  present  valuation  of  which  is  about  three  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars,  to  be  added  to  the  "Redman  Fund  for  Free  beds,"  which 
will  make  the  whole  amount  of  that  fund  not  less  than  four  hundred  and 
forty  thousand  dollars. 


92 


730 


SUMMARY   OF   DONATIONS,   SUBSCRIPTIONS,   &c. 


Original  subscripttons $140,992.55 

As  per  Bowditch,  viz.,  for  Hospital      $101,019.21 
„  „  „         „   Asylum      .     45,373.34 

$140,992.55 
Subscriptions    for   enlargement    of   the 
Hospital  in  1844,  as  per  Mr.  Bow- 
ditch's  list , 02,550.00 

Subscriptions  for  a  brick  fence  at  the 

Hospital  in  the  year  1850 3,250.00 

Subscriptions  for  new  cottage  for  males 

at  Asylum,  in  the  year  1803 44,450.00 

Subscriptions    to    pay  off  debt  of   the 

Hospital,  and  in  aid  of  its  funds,  1800     ....        100,800.00 

Annual  subscriptions  for  free  beds 154,309.00 

Before  1851    .......    $59,909.17 

From  Jan.  1851  to  June,  1872  .       94,399.83 

$154,309.00 

Legacies  and  donations 1,189,924.33 

Before  1851 $483,922.80 

From  Jan.  1851  to  June,  1872    .    700,001.47 

$1,189,924.33 


$1,702,335. 


Before  1851 $753,434.58 

Since  1850 948,901.30 

$1,702,335.88 


OFFICERS    OF    THE    INSTITUT10:N'. 

4 

1872. 


EDWARD    WIGGLESWORTH President. 

NATHANIEL   THAYER Vice-President. 

J.  THOMAS    STEVENSON Treasttrer. 

THOMAS    B.   HALL Sccrctarij. 


TRUSTEES. 


HENRY  B.  ROGERS  . 
JAMES  M.  BEEBE      . 
CHARLES  H.  DALTON 
EDMUND  D WIGHT   . 
*GEORGE  E.  ELLIS  . 
SAMUEL  ELIOT     .     . 
GEORGE  S.  HALE      . 
GEORGE  HIGGINSON 
*SAMUEL  G.  HOWE  . 
*HENRY  P.  KIDDER 
SAMUEL  W.  SWETT 
*SAMUEL  D.  WARREN 


Chairvian,  —  5  Joy  Slreet. 
30  Beacon  Street. 
Sears  Building. 
60  State  Street. 
110  Marlboro  Street. 
44  Brimmer  Street. 

39  Court  Street. 

40  State  Street. 

20  Bromfield  Street. 
40  State  Street. 
60  State  Street. 
67  Mt.  Vernon  Street. 


BOARD     OF    CONSULTATION. 


JOHN  JEFFRIES,  M.D. 
EDAVARD  REYNOLDS,  M.D. 
JOHN  B.  S.  JACKSON,  M.D. 
WINSLOW  LEWIS,  M.D. 


II.  I.  BOWDITCH,  M.D. 
D.  H.  STORER,  M.D. 
CHARLES  E.  WARE,  M.D. 
C.  E.  BROWX-SEQUARl),  M.D. 


JOHN  E.  TYLER,  M.D. 

*  Appointed  by  the  Governor  of  the  Commonwealth. 


732 


OFFICERS    OF    THE    HOSPITAL. 

Resident  Physician. 


NORTON  FOLSOM,  M.D.  .     . 
GEORGE  C.  SHATTUCK,  M.D 
FRANCIS  MINOT,  M.D.    .     . 
CALVIN  ELLIS,  M.D.  .     .     . 
SAMUEL  L.  ABBOT,  M.D.    . 
H.  K.  OLIVER,  JuN.,  M.D.      . 
EDWARD  B.  DALTON,  M.D. 
HENRY  J.  BIGELOW,  M.D. 
HENRY  G.  CLARK,  M.D.      . 
SAMUEL  CABOT,  M.D.     .     . 
GEORGE  H.  GAY,  M.D.    .     . 
RICHARD  M.  HODGES,  M.D. 
ALGERNON  COOLIDGE,  M.D. 
GEORGE  G.  TARBELL,  M.D 
JOHX  COLLINS  WARREN,  M.D 
DAVID  H.  FIAYDEN,  M.D. 
WILLIAM  L.  RICHARDSON,  M 
J.  THEODORE  HEARD,  M.D 
CHARLES  B.  PORTER,  M.D. 


JAMES  C.  WHITE,  M.D. 


D 


Visiting  Physicians. 


Visitiny  Surgeons. 


)-  Physicians  to  Out-patients. 


Surgeons  to  Out-jjaticnts. 


i  Chemist    and    Physician 
.  \       to   Patients    ivith   Dis- 
'      eases  of  the  Skin. 

(  Microscopist  aiid  Curator 
REGINALD  H.  FITZ,  M.D.    •      •      •<     of  the  Pathological  Gab- 

l     inet. 

HENRY  P.  QUINCY,  M.I).     .     .     .     Artist. 

CHARLES  WILSON,  D.  M.D.      .     .     Bentist. 

A.  L.  MASON } 

K.  G.  Cutler ) 

WM.  J.  MORTON 

F.  A.  HARRIS 

JAMES  E.  TOBEY    .... 

WALTER  CHANNING,  Jun.  . 

MISS  G.  L.  STURTEVANT     .     .      .      3Iatron. 

DANIEL  G.  WILKINS       ....      Apothecary. 


r  Medical  House-Papils. 


1 


Surgical  House-Pupils. 


733 


OFFICERS    OF    THE    M'LEAN    ASYLUM. 

GEORGE  F.  JELLY,  M.D Superintendent. 

CHARLES  F.  FOLSOM,  M.D.       .     .  i  Assistant    Physicians 
FERDINAND  A.  STILLINGS,  M.D.  \      and  Ajwthecaries. 
WALTER  J.  NORFOLK     .      Iledical  Student  and  Apothecary. 

GEORGE  W.  WHFrXLE Steivard. 

MRS.  ABBY  M.  WHITTLE 3Mron. 

ELBRIDGE  S.  UPHAM, 
MISS  LUCIA  E.  WOODWARD 


>  .     .     •      .      .      Supervisors. 


734 

COMMITTEES. 

Committee  on  Finance. 

MESSRS.  BEEBE  AND  HIGGINSON. 

Committee  on  Accounts. 
MESSRS.  SWETT  AND  WARREN. 

Free-hed  Standing  Committee. 
MESSRS.  HIGGINSON  AND  KIDDER. 

Committee  on  the  Booh  of  Donations. 
MR.  ROGERS. 

Committee  on  the  Warren  Fund  and  Lihrarij. 
MESSRS.  ELIOT  AND  DWIGHT. 

Committee  on  Repairs. 
MESSRS.  ROGERS,  BEEBE,  AND  D ALTON. 


February 
MarL-h     . 
April      . 
May  .      . 
fjune 
July 
August  . 
September 
October 
November 
December 
January 


VISITING   COMMITTEE. 

Mkssi:s.  ROGERS  AND  KIDDER. 
KIDDEll  AND  DWIGHT. 
DWIGHT  AND  ELIOT. 
ELIOT  AND  BEEBE. 
BEEBE  AND  HIGGINSON. 
HIGGINSON  AND  SWETT 
SWETT  AND  HOWE. 
HOWE  AND  HALE. 
HALE  AND  AVARREN. 
WARREN  AND  ELLIS. 
ELLIS  AND  D ALTON. 
DALTON  AND  ROGERS. 


January  .... 

Mks. 

February 

Ml!S. 

March      .... 

jMiss 

April 

Miss 

]\Ia}' 

Miss 

June 

Miss 

September    . 

Mhs. 

October  .... 

Miss 

November    . 

Mus. 

December     .     .     . 

Miss 

LADIES'    VISITING    COMMITTEE. 

ELIOT  AND  Mrs.  STEVENSON. 
STEVENSON  AND  Miss  GOODWIN. 
GOODWIN  AND  Miss  LORING. 
LORING  AxVD  Miss  TORREY. 
TORREY  AND  Miss  YOUNG. 
YOUNG  AND  Mrs.  ROGERS. 

ro(;ers  and  :\lss  revere. 

REVERE  AND  Mrs.  BEEBE. 
BEEBE  AND  Miss  HEMENWAY. 
HEMENWAY  AND  Mus.  ELIOT. 


/V 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

Los  Angeles 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


NOV  1  7  RECTI 


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